Macon Lands European Steel Products Plant and Headquarters Promising 100-Plus Jobs

ArcelorMittal, the European steel giant with origins in Asia, is set to invest more than $100 million in a new factory and headquarters in middle Georgia. 

The company, based in Luxembourg but tracing its lineage back to one of India’s top business families, will spend an initial $57 million to set up a new facility and hire 70 people in Macon by the second half of next year.

A second phase to be undertaken “over the next several years” would add $50 million more and double the job count, according to a news release from Gov. Brian Kemp’s office. 

The plant will come under the ArcelorMittal Building Solutions umbrella, a branch of the company that makes insulated steel panels building envelope systems for protecting warehouses, factories, data centers and other commercial buildings. Some of the panels incorporate an insulated foam covered by an outer steel cladding. 

The investment comes as steel and aluminum products still face national security tariffs of 50 percent, even after many of President Donald Trump’s signature import taxes have been struck down. 

“Georgia continues to attract international companies seeking to establish strategic operations in North America, supported by our skilled workforce, global connectivity, and access to key markets,” said Georgia Department of Economic Development Commissioner Pat Wilson.

As part of its primary steel-making presence in 14 countries, ArcelorMittal is a heavy investor in the Southeast U.S., with a key rolled steel production facility in Alabama purchased from Germany’s Thyssenkrupp in 2013. Since buying that operation in Calvert, just north of Mobile, ArcelorMittal has poured in at least $1.7 billion more in investment. The company overall employs 3,200 people across the U.S. 

Jean Christophe Kennel, CEO of ArcelorMittal Building Solution, said the move to Macon was driven by “strong and sustained demand for high-performance building solutions, driven by growth in logistics, manufacturing, and data center infrastructure.”

Macon-Bibb County had a ready building in the Airport South site near Middle Georgia Regional Airport. That industrial park is where Nichiha, a Japanese provider of similar products, downsized its facility last year. 

Macon Mayor Lester Miller said the planned ArcelorMittal plant is “exactly the kind of growth we’re working to deliver, and we’re proud to welcome it to Macon.”

Middle Georgia is also home to YKK AP, an architectural products maker from Japan that makes building facades in Dublin and windows in a new $125 million facility in Macon.