Weekly Briefing | Fire and ICE: Mega Investments Continue Despite Headwinds

Oct. 1, 2025 | v33i12 | Subscribe

This issue of the Global Atlanta Weekly Briefing is sponsored by Arnall Golden Gregory:

Fire and ICE: Mega Investments Continue Despite Headwinds

After all this talk about ICE over the past few weeks (and a little more below), I thought I’d first bring a little fire to this week’s newsletter.

Last Wednesday, Germany’s largest investor in Georgia’s history (somewhat) quietly hosted what’s called in its industry a “first melt.” Think of it like a ceremony marketing the beginning of production, when the first widget rolls off the line. But in this case it’s molten metal, sourced from old circuit boards and wires, poured out from two giant furnaces, with two more on the way in a planned second phase.

Aurubis cut the ribbon its $800 million smelter in Augusta last September and has spent the last year burning the kinks out of its processes. It’s exactly the kind of foreign-invested project that could have easily gone awry in this era of international policy upheaval, but some strategic and market tailwinds have offset the potential downsides of tariff fluctuations and broader uncertainty, CEO Toralf Haag told Global Atlanta in an exclusive interview.

Here’s how:

Trump’s mega budget bill may have be ending subsidies for electric vehicles as of Oct. 1, BUT any of the blister copper that would have been destined for EV batteries could easily find a market in power generation, given the anticipated rise in demand due to artificial intelligence.
Tariffs on imported metals, including finished copper, have been biting U.S. producers, BUT this could actually work in Aurubis’s favor. The Hamburg-based company is working toward creating a circular supply chain, sourcing from scrap aggregators domestically, then selling to “offtakers” via long-term contracts.

Mr. Haag explained that metals pricing is transparent and internationally set, meaning Aurubis can sell its copper, nickel, tin and zinc at the same price as competitors, now with predictable costs and a positive sustainability story. He wouldn’t venture a guess as to how trade turbulence would affect Aurubis’s costs and profitability, but it stands to reason that it’s well-positioned if American manufacturers are forced to start feeling around for domestic sources of these critical materials.

In short, despite tariffs, Aurubis sits at the confluence of a few very favorable trends: environmental circularity and economic resiliency, driven by localized production in an era of shrinking supply chains. (See more stories of German connection below)

ICE Update: Hyundai Triples Down, Kemp Heads to Korea

The fallout from the ICE raid on the Hyundai plant has has continued to spread over the last couple of weeks, especially as returned Korean engineers started to tell their horror stories, but efforts are afoot to stem the long-term damage to Georgia’s economy:

Hyundai. For its part, Hyundai is adding $2.7B to its Geogia Metaplant facility despite the delay on the joint-venture battery plant with LG and the embarrassment that came from the raid.

Kemp. In a visit that the state says was scheduled before the raid, Gov. Brian Kemp is set to visit South Korea and will meet with Hyundai as he goes to Asia to headline Georgia’s delegation to the SEUS Japan conference

Rivian. AsRivian broke ground on its $5 billion plant, keeping an eye on China trade tensions, the governor struck a note of optimism that the Korean visa issue would be solved. Business leaders and policy makers are proposing visa solutions to aid Korean companies investing in the U.S., an objective to which Develop Fulton Chairman Kwanza Hall has added his voice.

Either way, some experts believe this is likely to do little for an international business community rattled by the prospect of raids on major construction sites:

“I think every company, including American or any company with a large construction site, they’re a target for an ICE raid, just because it’s like Willy Loman — where is the money? It’s in the bank. Where might you catch illegals?” said Tami Overby of DGA Group, the former head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea.

At a World Affairs Council of Atlanta forum, Ms. Overby noted that Mr. Kemp and other state officials should be vocal in support of their Korean investors during this tough time.

“It’s not just getting the announcement. Until it’s up and running, and even then, you’ve got to make sure they’re happy. They’re your ambassadors.”