Hyundai announces new US$21 billion investment in US manufacturing

Plan includes US$5.8 billion steel plant in Louisiana which will create 1,300 jobs, said Hyundai executive chairman Euisun Chung on Monday

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Hyundai executive chairman Euisun Chung speaks as US President Donald Trump, Governor of Louisiana Jeff Landry, far right, and US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, left, look on in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington on Monday. Photo: Reuters

Published: 4:16am, 25 Mar 2025Updated: 5:27am, 25 Mar 2025

South Korean car giant Hyundai on Monday announced a multibillion-dollar investment in the United States, including a new US$5.8 billion steel plant.

The factory, which will be based in the US state of Louisiana, “will create 1,300 American jobs”, Hyundai executive chairman Euisun Chung told reporters at a White House event alongside US President Donald Trump.

The move will also serve “as the foundation for a more self-reliant and secure automotive supply chain in the US”, he added.

Hyundai plans to hold an opening ceremony for its new US$7.59 billion car and battery factory in Georgia on Wednesday. The carmaker has a factory in Alabama, while its affiliate Kia has a plant in Georgia. The two older factories can produce 700,000 vehicles a year and the new Georgia plant will have a 300,000-vehicle production capacity when fully operational.

Hyundai’s announcement makes it the latest firm to announce plans to invest billions of dollars into the United States since Trump’s return to power in January.

The US president has repeatedly threatened to impose painful tariffs on companies that do not relocate manufacturing jobs to the United States from overseas.

In response, domestic and foreign firms, including Apple and Oracle, have announced plans to invest hundreds of billions of dollars into US projects over the next four years.