Korean conglomerate SK Innovation is expanding its Georgia footprint with a $19 million information technology center in Metro Atlanta to serve the company’s many gigantic battery manufacturing facilities.
Gov. Brian Kemp’s office announced the regional IT hub Thursday morning, touting that it will create 200 jobs. The facility, which will be operated by SK’s lithium-ion battery subsidiary, will open in Roswell later in January, according to a news release.
The technology support center follows SK’s rapid growth in Georgia, which includes two battery manufacturing facilities in Jackson County and a future joint battery factory with Hyundai Motor Group in Bartow County. The billion-dollar-corporate investments rank among the largest in state history, according to state officials.
Pat Wilson, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development, said the IT center shows how state investment in budding industries can multiply into job investment across supply chains and industries.
“The new IT regional center is a natural result of the company’s commitment to Georgia,” Wilson said in the release. “In economic development, we often talk about the ripple effects of a company’s initial investment. Suppliers, support centers, and expansions create new opportunities that go beyond the company’s original scope, location, and even industry.”
Georgia has been courting electric battery and vehicle companies with splashy billion-dollar deals, vying to become a domestic manufacturing hub as automakers bet their futures on electrification. Since 2020, the state said electric mobility projects have contributed more than $21 billion in investments and more than 26,700 new jobs.
SK, the second-largest conglomerate in South Korea, first came to the Peach State in 2019, and the new IT center will serve its battery manufacturing facilities in Georgia as well as SK’s operations across the nation. The center will be located at 1110 Sanctuary Parkway, a nearly 150,000-square-foot-office building.
The federal government has boosted incentives to produce more EVs and batteries in the United States, with the Inflation Reduction Act committing $369 billion to accelerate the nation’s transition away from fossil fuels. SK’s battery plants in Commerce received $300 million in state and local incentives, and its joint venture with Hyundai will likely command a similar package of grants, tax breaks, infrastructure and free worker training.
“We decided to open our IT regional center in Roswell to strengthen SK’s position as a leader in the battery industry, and it will help us build and operate an advanced manufacturing system in accordance with further expansion of battery production bases in the United States,” Jason Choi, head of Information Technology at SK Battery America, said in the release.
The company will be hiring IT experts for battery manufacturing execution system development and operations as well as data analysts. More information is available at skbatteryamerica.com.
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