YKK is the presenting sponsor of Global Atlanta's Japan Channel. Subscribe here for monthly Japan newsletters.
Augusta now has Georgia’s burgeoning electric-vehicle sector to thank for a second copper-focused project bringing in hundreds of jobs on hundreds of millions of capital investment from a foreign entity.
Denkai America, which makes copper foil used in printed circuit boards for electronics in the aerospace and defense industry, is to set up a new facility producing similar materials made for the lithium-ion batteries powering the cars of the future.
The initial investment on the 115-acre site in Richmond County will be $150 million, but the Japanese subsidiary plans to put in another $280 million and hire 250 people as it expands over two additional phases. The site will also serve as the headquarters for Denkai Americas.
“We are thrilled to expand our manufacturing presence into Augusta, which has the skilled and talented work force our company needs for growth,” said Nobu Masuda, Denkai America’s president and CEO, in a news release.
Denkai follows closely on the heels of Aurubis AG, which just broke ground on a Richmond County recycling plant that will produce blister copper, bringing more than 100 jobs on nearly $350 million in capital investment and constituting the largest single German investment in the state to date.
Both projects are evidence of Georgia’s ongoing effort to recruit all the components of the electric-vehicle value chain — from raw materials to the cars that will be turned out by $5 billion-plus plants already announced by Rivian and Hyundai — to ensure supply-chain resiliency in the EV industry, which Georgia Department of Economic Development Commissioner Pat Wilson calls a “generational opportunity” for the state’s workforce.
Denkai America is a subsidiary of Nippon Denkai, based in Chikusei City in Ikabara prefecture, about two hours drive north of Tokyo. The company completed an acquisition of Oak Mitsui Inc. in 2020, including its plant in Camden, S.C., which it expanded to the tune of $14 million and 10 additional jobs last year. The South Carolina facility now employs more than 80 people and will continue operations.
Denkai America initially planned the expansion there, but the site’s limitations forced a reassessment as its growth projections became more ambitious. Already the market leader in copper foils for EV batteries in Japan, with 60 percent market share there and 40 percent in North America according to Nikkei, Denkai sees the market for anode materials growing globally by an average of 21.5 percent per year through 2035, with the U.S. and Japan taking a significant share.
Not only will the size of the electric vehicle market grow, according to company projections, but the size of the batteries in cars will also increase, necessitating more copper foil for the anodes.
The company forecasts electrics to the U.S. and Japan combined will make up about a quarter of the 62 million EVs it believes will be sold globally by 2035, a rate it pegs at more than 14 percent a year.
When the plant begins shipping samples in the summer of 2024, it will be the only copper foil manufacturer on the East Coast, helping battery makers like Georgia’s SK Battery reduce dependence on imports, reducing their geopolitical risk, according to an outline on the company’s website.
In switching from South Carolina plant to Georgia, Denkai upped its production capacity for the initial phase from 9,000 metric tons to 9,500 and increased its planned capital investment by $10 million, noting that the plant will triple in size over subsequent phases as dictated by market demand.
According to a presentation on the company’s website, a key differentiator for Georgia seemed to be Georgia Power’s willingness to lock in a competitive rate for energy prices well into the future. The company reportedly will receive land valued at $2.25 million, according to the Associated Press, alongside other incentives likely to materialize, including training from Georgia Quick Start.
Training for new hires in Georgia will be completed at the South Carolina plant, just two hours away.
Denkai will be hiring for skilled industrial technicians, production managers and engineers.
Learn more and apply at https://denkaiamerica.isolvedhire.com/jobs/.