DETROIT - General Motors announced on Tuesday that it has teamed up with South Korean electronics manufacturer Samsung to invest more than $3 billion to build a new battery cell manufacturing plant in the United States that is targeted to begin operations in 2026.

The companies did not announce the location of the plant or employment projections but said the number of new jobs in construction and operations is expected to number in the thousands. 

The plant will have more than 30 GWh of capacity and will bring GM’s total U.S. battery cell capacity to about 160 GWh when it is at full production.

The companies plan to jointly operate the facility, and it is projected to have production lines to build nickel-rich prismatic and cylindrical cells.

The plant would be in addition to GM’s three other battery plants that have either started production, or are still under construction, including the 2.8 million square foot Ultium Cells plant in Lordstown.

“GM’s supply chain strategy for EVs is focused on scalability, resiliency, sustainability and cost-competitiveness. Our new relationship with Samsung SDI will help us achieve all these objectives,” said GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra. “The cells we will build together will help us scale our EV capacity in North America well beyond 1 million units annually.”

The joint venture with Samsung SDI will leverage the capital and technology of both companies to create new competitive advantages according to GM.

“We will continue to scale production and optimize the chemistry of our pouch cells for performance, range and cost using new approaches pioneered at GM’s Wallace Battery Center and by our technology partners,” said Doug Parks, GM executive vice president, Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain. “With multiple strong cell partners, we can scale our EV business faster than we could going it alone.”

The Ultium Platform is designed to accept multiple cell form factors and chemistries. In China, the Cadillac LYRIQ is powered by prismatic cells applied to the same battery packs used in the U.S.