Partnership Gwinnett is the presenting sponsor of Global Atlanta's Korea Channel. Subscribe here for monthly Korea newsletters.
Georgia’s Korean investment roll continued this week as auto parts supplier Hyundai TRANSYS announced that it would spend $240 million to build a new factory next to its current location on the Kia Motors campus in West Point.
Hyundai Motor, a sister company to Kia, operates a factory down Interstate 85 in Montgomery, Ala. Between the two, a row of sometimes-shared Korean suppliers has emerged over the past decade.
TRANSYS, which specializes in transmissions but also makes seats, was formed by a merger between Hyundai Dymos and Hyundai Powertech, the latter of which put the original plant near Kia in 2008, followed by Dymos in 2013. The combined company’s global revenues now stand at $7 billion.
The company will employ 678 people at the new 620,000-square-foot facility, according to a news release from Gov. Brian Kemp’s office. With 165 contsruction and inspection jobs expected to accompany the factory positions, the company’s total employment in Georgia would balloon to 1,471.
“The level of trust built through years of capital investment, employment, and training support – along with new opportunities unmatched by any other states – made Georgia a natural choice,” Hyundai TRANSYS Georgia Powertrain President Sangkil Jung said in the release. “We are excited for the opportunities ahead as we expand our presence in the West Point community.”
Home to more than 200 auto-industry plants, the state has seen commitments of more than $1 billion and 2,000 jobs from South Korea in 2020, many of them promised at the SK Innovation electric-vehicle battery factory in Commerce.
