South Korea's SK Innovation plans to build a second electric vehicle battery factory in Georgia in addition to the one under construction that will serve Chattanooga's Volkswagen plant, according to Reuters.
Kim Jun, CEO of SK Innovation Co Ltd, said he expects more Asian battery makers to produce batteries in the United States instead of importing them from their home countries to avoid tariffs and to meet demand locally from automakers for the key EV component.
SK Innovation is building its first $1.67 billion factory in northeast Georgia about 65 miles outside of Atlanta. That factory is on track to start producing batteries from early 2022.
VW late last year started construction on an $800 million expansion to its Chattanooga assembly plant where it plans to produce an all-electric SUV by 2022.
Boeing workers raised concerns over 737 Max
A newly released batch of emails and text messages shows Boeing employees raising doubts among themselves about the safety of the 737 Max and talking about hiding problems from regulators.
Some of the discussion centered on problems with the company's flight simulators, which are used to develop new planes and then train pilots on them.
"Would you put your family on a MAX simulator trained aircraft?" one employee asked another. "I wouldn't." The other employee responded: "No."
The documents came to light this week, nearly 10 months after the aircraft was grounded over two catastrophic crashes.
Boeing cutbacks trim 2,800 jobs in Kansas
Problems for Boeing and its troubled 737 Max aircraft are beginning to ripple outward with a major supplier announcing that it will lay off 2,800 workers, or more than 20% of its workforce in Kansas, where it is based.
The layoffs threaten to damage a state economy that's been solid for months, with low unemployment. Spirit produced about 70% of the 737 Max, including the fuselage.
Contracts with Boeing for the Max represents more than half of Spirit's annual income.