Son Michael, senior vice president of Samsung SDI, confirmed that the company will build a battery manufacturing plant in the United States because the US government encourages battery manufacturers to set up factories there to take advantage of various tax breaks.
Samsung SDI has been in talks with carmakers, including Stellantis, Amazon and Ford-backed electric car start-up Rivian, to supply batteries from potential US plants, according to sources. Samsung is considering investing at least 3 trillion won ($2.62 billion) to produce batteries for Stellantis and at least 1 trillion won for Rivian.
Under the US-Mexico-Canada agreement (USMCA), which came into force in 2020, cars with 75 per cent of North American parts can avoid tariffs, compared with the 62.5 per cent threshold set by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
A spokesman for Samsung SDI said: "We have been reviewing our expansion in the US, but we have not made any decision yet." He added that the company could not disclose details of negotiations with customers.
Samsung SDI has electric car battery plants in South Korea, China and Hungary, which supply customers such as BMW, Ford, Volvo and Volkswagen. Samsung SDI's local competitors LG Energy Solution and SK Innovation have respectively announced plans to produce electric car batteries in the United States.
