* WGLT…
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said Thursday that Normal is a finalist for a new Samsung battery manufacturing plant that could add thousands of jobs adjacent to Rivian’s facility and cement central Illinois as a Midwestern electric vehicle hub.
Rumors about a potential massive economic development project have swirled in Bloomington-Normal for the past week. Economic Development Council chief Patrick Hoban teased the project Aug. 5 during an event at Illinois Wesleyan, as WGLT first reported. He didn’t specify which industry or company was involved, but said a potential “billion-dollar deal” was possible, and that Bloomington-Normal was one of three finalists for the project. […]
“We’re competing for a major Samsung battery facility,” Durbin said. “The delegation came from (South) Korea this week. I spoke to them, and others did as well. This Samsung facility, we hope, would be located next door to Rivian. That decision has not been made. Having that battery facility will also create thousands of jobs.”
State Rep. Dan Brady, a Bloomington Republican, told WGLT on Thursday that he’s heard the Samsung plant will employ up to 3,200 people.
Sen. Durbin might’ve been better off keeping his mouth shut, but whatever. Too late now.
* DCEO’s Lauren Huffman had a purposefully vague response to my query, likely to not upset the company…
The Pritzker administration is bullish about building a clean energy future for Illinois – and part of that is making a concerted effort to boost electric vehicle and supplier manufacturing here in Illinois. We remain in regular conversation with a number of companies in this space but it is against our policy to comment on any specifics.
* Reuters…
Last month, Reuters reported that Samsung SDI, an affiliate of Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS), may build a battery cell plant in the United States. Reuters also reported that Samsung SDI has been in talks to supply batteries manufactured at a potential U.S. factory with electric vehicle makers including Stellantis (STLA.MI) and Rivian, which is backed by Amazon (AMZN.O) and Ford Motor Co (F.N). read more
The South Korean battery maker is considering investing at least 3 trillion won ($2.62 billion) to manufacture batteries for Stellantis and a minimum of 1 trillion won for batteries to Rivian, according to the source.
The source added that Samsung SDI has not yet decided whether to launch the U.S. plant as a joint venture with carmakers, or as an independent manufacturing site.
Samsung SDI officials have been making business trips to Detroit recently to discuss battery supply issues with Stellantis, a person with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
