[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Japanese Panasonic Energy has decided to invest $4 billion (approximately 5.23 trillion KRW) to build an electric vehicle battery factory in De Soto, Kansas, in the U.S. Midwest. This will be Panasonic's second factory in the U.S. and is expected to produce new batteries to supply Tesla.
According to Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun and others, Panasonic announced the plan to build the new U.S. factory on this day. Panasonic predicts that economic activity worth $2.5 billion annually will occur at this factory, and the investment is expected to create 4,000 local jobs.
Panasonic currently operates a factory in Nevada, U.S., producing batteries for Tesla. Foreign media expect that Panasonic's new factory will produce the new "4680 battery" to supply Tesla.
Panasonic currently has an annual battery production capacity of about 500,000 GWh and aims to expand this capacity 3 to 4 times by 2028. To expand production facilities in the U.S., Panasonic initially considered sites such as Oklahoma but chose Kansas after Governor Laura Kelly pressured the state legislature earlier this year to pass a bill providing up to $1 billion in incentives, according to foreign media reports.
Kansas announced in a statement that if Panasonic makes the planned investment and creates all the jobs, it will provide subsidies worth $829 million. Oklahoma also expressed optimism about "additional opportunities" related to Panasonic's future investments.
Nihon Keizai stated, "Electric vehicle batteries are also seeing accelerated investments from Chinese, Korean, and European companies, so Panasonic is expanding its supply system to Tesla, its profit base," adding, "Competition in electric vehicle batteries is fierce. Panasonic is accelerating investment to increase production in the growing electric vehicle battery industry."
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