Battery Company Plans New Georgia IT Hub, But Incentives Unknown

By T.A. DeFeo | The Center Square contributor, The Center Square Georgia

January 26, 2023

(The Center Square) — A battery company plans to spend $19 million on a new regional IT hub facility in north Fulton County, but it's unclear whether Georgia taxpayers are on the hook for any incentives.

SK Battery America expects to create 200 high-tech jobs at an integrated IT management center on Sanctuary Parkway in Roswell. It will serve the company's battery manufacturing facilities in Georgia and the country.

Georgia Department of Economic Development officials did not respond to a request for information about what incentives the state offered or what it might cost taxpayers.

The company is spending roughly $2.6 billion on a pair of lithium-ion battery manufacturing facilities in Jackson County to serve electric vehicles.

"We decided to open our IT regional center in Roswell to strengthen SK's position as a leader in the battery industry, and it will help us build and operate an advanced manufacturing system in accordance with further expansion of battery production bases in the United States," Jason Choi, SK Battery America's head of information technology, said in a statement.

SKBA is part of SK Group, the second-largest conglomerate in South Korea. "In 2019, SK On established SK Battery America as its U.S. production base, and the new IT regional center is a natural result of the company's commitment to Georgia," GDEcD Commissioner Pat Wilson said in an announcement.

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