With Reuters – Hot on the heels of a visit of a high-level French delegation to Taipei, the Taiwanese company ProLogium will build a battery gigafactory in northern France, business daily Les Echos reported on Tuesday.
French President Emmanuel Macron is set to announce the massive inward investment on Friday.
The newspaper said the gigafactory in Dunkirk would involve an investment of four billion euros ($4.4 billion) and create 3,000 jobs over time. It said Macron would travel to Dunkirk on Friday, but Macron’s office declined to comment.
A delegation from the French Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty was given a tour of ProLogium’s advanced next-generation solid-state battery technology, production processes, and facilities earlier this year.
With countries pledging their commitment to reach net zero by 2050, carbon neutrality has shifted from an environmental issue to an economic issue of international industrial competitiveness. The global EV battery market has also become an important part of the strategy to build up circular economy and new industries. Solid-state batteries have been recognised as a disruptive next-generation energy storage technology, achieving key breakthroughs and even surpassing conventional liquid lithium-ion batteries in safety, energy density, fast charging, recyclability and cost, ProLogium said.
The delegation was impressed by the advanced maturity of ProLogium’s exclusive next-generation solid-state battery technology, as well as their confidence and enthusiasm for future development.
“In response to the evolving ecological, economic, industrial and social challenges of the world, the French government actively promotes public investment plans such as France 2030. ProLogium’s upcoming plans to establish overseas materials supply, R&D bases, and gigafactories are very much in alignment with the French government’s industrial development strategy,” said a representative from the delegation “France’s attraction for high-tech talent and its rapidly developing battery industry cluster in northern France make it an ideal location for green projects, and these key projects will receive strong government support from local to the highest level.”
On the occasion of the French delegation’s visit, Vincent Yang, CEO and founder of ProLogium Technology, saiid: “First of all, I would like to thank the French government for its continued encouragement and unwavering support.”
Such a massive Taiwanese investment will have major ramifications in the world of diplomacy, as the island nation continues to resist mainland Communist China’s threat to its sovereignty.
PHOTO: The French delegation to ProLogium
