Jidongseop SK Ino CEO "1000 Additional Hires at Georgia Battery Plant This Year"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] Ji Dong-seop, CEO of SK Innovation's Battery Business Division, announced that the company will hire an additional 1,000 workers for the electric vehicle battery factory under construction in Georgia, USA. This is to expand jobs within the US and achieve the goal of starting battery production.

In an interview with the local media 'Atlanta Journal-Constitution' (AJC) on the 25th (local time), CEO Ji stated, "To begin job training for factory operations, hiring must be completed within the next three months."

SK Innovation is currently investing $2.6 billion (approximately 3 trillion KRW) to build an electric vehicle battery factory in Georgia. The batteries produced here will be supplied to Volkswagen, Ford, and others. The factory has currently hired 315 full-time American employees and 20 Korean staff.

The majority of the new hires will be equipment technicians, chemical and mechanical engineers, and new employees will undergo three months of job training ahead of full-scale factory operations. SK Innovation is cooperating with the 'Quick Start' job training program provided by the Georgia state government.

SK Innovation has set a goal to complete all factory facilities by the end of 2023. Once all facilities are completed, 2,600 full-time employees will produce batteries with an annual capacity of 21.5 GWh (gigawatt-hours). This production volume is enough to be installed in 430,000 electric vehicles annually.

CEO Ji also revealed that SK may build an additional SK battery factory in Georgia that is three times the size of the current battery factory. SK Innovation is constructing the second plant after completing the first plant in Georgia. The sites for the third and fourth plants have also been purchased at the location where the factories are being built.

Meanwhile, on the 20th, SK Innovation established a joint venture with Ford to produce batteries for electric vehicles, planning to produce 60 GWh of batteries annually. SK Innovation and Ford have not yet decided on the location of the new battery factory. Georgia, along with Ohio, Tennessee, and Texas, has been shortlisted as a final candidate region.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.