Hyundai Motor Group on Sunday announced that it would make an additional $10 billion investment in the United States by 2025 to strengthen its collaboration with American firms in advanced technology.
United States President Joe Biden said the new commitment included $5 billion for advanced automotive technology and $5.5 billion to open a new factory near Savannah, Georgia. The Democratic leader said that the investment would allow for the creation of more than 8,000 new jobs for Americans.
Hyundai's $10 Billion Investment
Biden said the plan was to break ground as soon as January of 2023, when the new facility should roll out the latest electric vehicles and batteries to power them by 2025. The U.S. president said that the Georgia workers responsible for constructing the plants and manufacturing the new electric battery technology would have more economic opportunities.
He also expressed his gratitude to two Georgia officials, Sens. Rafael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, for their role in supporting the state in becoming the magnet for clean energy investment. Biden touted that his administration has had a pattern of new investments, helping to create 545,000 new manufacturing jobs since taking office, as per the White House.
The group said the $5 billion investment in advanced automotive technology would include robotics, urban air mobility, autonomous driving, and artificial intelligence. Hyundai's new EV and battery manufacturing facilities will be based in the southern "right to work" state, where labor unions are less prevalent and cannot require workers to join.
Despite Biden describing himself as the most pro-union U.S. president in history, the new deal showed the compromises he is willing to make to gather international investment. He said that Hyundai and any company that would choose to invest in the United States would greatly benefit from entering into partnerships with some of the world's most highly-skilled, dedicated, and engaged workers.
According to Reuters, Hyundai Motor Group also said on Wednesday that it was planning to invest $16 billion through 2030 to expand its EV business in South Korea. Hyundai CEO Euisun Chung made the investment in the U.S.
Greater International Cooperation
Biden, speaking with the group's CEO, said that electric vehicles were not only good for the country's climate goals but also for jobs and business. The South Korean company's major investment in the U.S. shows how the two nations leverage their long-standing military ties into a broader economic partnership.
The U.S. president said he was not concerned about any potential provocation by North Korea while he was out touring the region. In response to a reporter's question, he said that his administration was prepared for anything that the North was planning to do. He said they have discussed how to respond to whatever North Korea decides to do.
On Saturday, Biden said that greater economic cooperation between the United States and South Korea would bring the two countries even closer together. He added that cooperating even more closely than they already will strengthen both nations' supply chains, secure them against shocks, and give economies a competitive edge, VOA News reported.
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