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Ford EV Battery Supplier SK Group To Spend $22 Billion In U.S.

Ford announced that it would be forming an EV battery production joint venture with SK Innovation last year dubbed BlueOvalSK, but that is merely one component of both company’s attempts to secure raw materials and build more batteries across the globe in places like Europe, China, and North America. Now, the South Korean Ford EV battery supplier has announced that it will spend a grand total of $22 billion in the U.S. alone to fortify these efforts.

This news comes to us from a recent meeting between Tae-won Chey,  Chairman of SK Inc., and President Joe Biden, and effectively doubles the $22 billion the company has already spent in the U.S. in recent years. The Ford EV battery supplier intends to invest another $22 billion in semiconductor chips, EV batteries, and biotechnology in America moving forward, which brings its total investment – including the $7 billion it’s spending on the under-construction BlueOval SK Battery Park – to nearly $30 billion.

A grand total of half of that $22 billion will go toward semiconductor research and development with an eye toward developing the next-generation of automotive chips. SK also intends to spend another $7 billion on its joint campus with Ford in Kentucky and Tennessee, as well as $5 billion in other green energy businesses, including ultra-fast EV charging, hydrogen, battery materials, recycling, and small modular reactors. These moves will also boost SK’s U.S. workforce from 4,000 to 20,000 workers by 2025, too.

“Well, we created tens of thousands of highly paid and highly skilled jobs,” Chey said. “But we believe – our view is the United States is our most important business partner. But one thing we can work together is building a skillful workforce. That would be the crucial for ensuring that America has a type of worker necessary to lead the next generation – the manufacturing economy. So, we will work closely with the state and community colleges to help ensure that workers know what they need to know to lead jobs in our facility. The federal, state, and the local coordination, and the deep investment in job training, would help other companies to find the skillset they need and invest more in – here in U.S. as well.”

We’ll have more on SK and Ford’s other partners soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for 24/7 Ford news coverage.

Brett's lost track of all the Fords he's owned over the years and how much he's spent modifying them, but his current money pits include an S550 Mustang and 13th gen F-150.

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  2. Be careful what you wish for!

    US Congressman seeks investigation against SK Innovation for suspected illegal employment. SK Innovation’s battery business is facing uncertainties in the US as Congressman Doug Collins is accusing the firm of hiring Korean workers illegally to displace American workers at its two factories under construction in Jackson County, Georgia.

    COMMERCE, Ga. – Some Jackson County residents complain the new $2.6 billion battery plant under construction there is starting to wear out its welcome before it even opens.

    The FOX 5 I-Team already revealed how contractors are flying in overseas workers rather than using Americans to do some of the basic construction.

    A FOX 5 I-Team investigation has raised questions over who’s currently benefiting from a $2.6 billion factory under construction in Jackson County.

    Korean-owned SK Innovation chose Georgia after receiving one of the biggest tax relief packages our state has ever awarded: around $300 million in tax abatements and grants.

    SK Battery America is building what will eventually be a $2.6 billion factory that will employ 2600 workers.
    Sign up for FOX 5 email alerts

    Jackson County donated the land for the plant. SK Battery America is a subsidiary of SKI.

    When it’s finished in 2022, SK Battery America promised 2,600 people will eventually be hired to build batteries for electric cars.

    But that’s when it’s finished.

    “Georgians have gotten the shaft over the SKI battery plant,” complained David Cagle with the Georgia Local Union 72 of plumbers, pipefitters, and HVACR technicians.

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