What the Governor’s Talking about
Today
Monday, November 1,
2010
Governor to Lead
Investment Mission to South
Korea
The governor departs on Wednesday for a three-day
investment mission to Seoul, South Korea where she will focus on continuing to
grow Michigan’s flourishing advanced battery
industry.
During the November 4-6 investment mission, the governor
will meet with executives from LG Chem, one of the world’s largest producers of
advanced chemicals and a leading supplier of lithium-ion batteries. LG
Chem operates in Michigan as Troy-based Compact Power and
serves as a focal point for the research, design, engineering and packaging of
lithium-ion batteries for mass production in the automotive and non-automotive
sectors.
In 2009, LG Chem announced a $303 million investment in
west Michigan where a new battery plant is now
under construction in Holland. Facilitated by a $151.4 million
grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, the 600,000 square-foot facility will
be fully operational by 2012, employing up to 400
workers.
Granholm will also meet with executives from SB
LiMotive, the lithium-ion battery company that is a joint venture between
Samsung and Bosch, and with W-Scope, a firm that provides separator material for
the battery industry. SB LiMotive is expected to be a major player in the
global automotive battery market and recently purchased Cobasys, a nickel metal
hydride battery firm based in Orion. During an investment mission to
Germany this past April,
Granholm met with Bosch officials to urge the Cobasys organization to serve as
the launch pad for SB LiMotive’s U.S. operations. W-Scope would
be a key addition to Michigan’s battery supply
chain.
Key
messages:
- Seventeen of the
world’s leading advanced battery companies are now operating in Michigan or soon will
be. On this investment mission the governor will be looking to further
solidify Michigan’s position as the new global center
of the advanced battery and electric vehicle
industry.
- This trip to
South
Korea will be the governor’s 12th and likely
final overseas investment mission since 2004. Her previous missions to
Austria,
Belgium,
France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan and Sweden have resulted in 49 companies announcing
nearly $2 billion in new investment in Michigan and more than 20,000 new or
retained jobs.
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