At a press conference in the White House, President Donald Trump commended an upcoming $6 billion investment by Hyundai to further steel production in the state of Louisiana.
The money will be spent increasing the localization rate of automotive components, which is corporate speak for making more stuff in America while also amping its “agility and flexibility in response to external uncertainties.” That’s the polite way of saying Hyundai is seeking to protect itself against the constantly changing tariff winds.
Getting much attention from Trump at the press conference was Hyundai Steel, the brand’s steel affiliate which will build an Electric Arc Furnace steel mill in the deep south. The facility will apparently be capable of producing nearly 3 million tons of steel per year, showing up as so-called ‘low-carbon’ steel sheets using what Hyundai describes as an abundant supply of steel scrap in America. One will also certainly hear the phrases “parts localization” and “strengthened supply chains” as part of this conversation.
This investment is part of a larger spend Hyundai plans to plow into the United States between now and 2028, totalling an estimated $21 billion. According to information on the PR side, that’s about as much as the company has shovelled into the country since it showed up forty years ago.
A sum of $9 billion is earmarked to establish an annual production capacity in the States of 1.2 million vehicles across its automotive brands – Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis. There’s the $6 billion mentioned above. And a further $6 billion will go into innovation for the likes of autonomous driving and robotics, along with energy generation including small modular reactors (SMRs) and the IONNA charging alliance. The SMRs are particularly interesting dalliance, part of a collab with a crew called Construction Holtec International. Hey, all that energy for EVs and powering plants gotta come from somewhere.
[Image: Hyundai]
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