Vietnamese automobile startup VinFast is close to an agreement to invest as much as $7 billion in a complex to build 250,000 electric SUVs annually at Chatham County’s Triangle Innovation Point megasite, the Triangle Business Journal reported over the weekend, citing multiple unnamed sources.
Massive state and local subsidies will be part of an announcement expected as soon as this week, economic development sources say.
Billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong has previously said his company would produce EVs and batteries in the U.S. and Germany by the end of 2024. It would mark one of the biggest economic development projects in state history with 10,000 to 13,000 potential employees, TBJ reported.
Triangle Innovation Point megasite recently missed out on a massive semiconductor plant, but N.C. economic development experts have emphasized that there’s much potential interest in the 2,150-acre property. It is within 30 miles of Research Triangle Park and Raleigh-Durham International Airport and six miles from Sanford’s Raleigh Executive Jetport. The property owner is Kaplan Cos., a Denver-based real estate and home building company.
VinFast is the first Vietnamese car maker to expand globally and the first to offer EVs. Global automakers plan to spend an estimated $515 billion over the next decade to develop and build battery-powered vehicles as the market shifts away from combustion engines, according to Reuters.