Project Bulletin: January 9, 2024

National Resilience is expanding the 580,000-sq.-ft. facility it purchased from AstraZeneca in January 2023.

Photo by Getty Images

Biotechnology company National Resilience, Inc. plans to add 440 new jobs at its West Chester, Ohio, site with a $229 million investment, announced in December 2023. The expansion project came just 11 months after the California-based company purchased this manufacturing facility from AstraZeneca and will support its goal to increase access to complex medicines. “After completing our purchase of the West Chester manufacturing site in January 2023, Resilience remains committed to the state of Ohio and we are thrilled to both further develop and modernize the facility and grow our West Chester workforce,” said National Resilience CEO Rahul Singhvi, Sc.D. “Our West Chester facility plays a key role within Resilience’s network, as the site serves as our global center of excellence for commercial drug product manufacturing.”

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In December 2023 Hithium announced the completion of phase one of its site in the Tongliang high-tech zone.

Photo courtesy of Hithium

China-based stationary energy storage company Hithium launched its initial 28 gigawatt-hours (GWh) production facility in China’s southwestern city of Chongqing. The company invested $1.8 billion in an over 8-million-sq.-ft. battery cell manufacturing facility, increasing Hithium’s production capacity by 30% overall. “Intelligent manufacturing is the key to more efficient and more cost-effective battery production. This new plant points the way to lower LCOS, and with it, an affordable energy transition. We’ve achieved production cost reductions of 25% at our new Chongqing facility and it’s just the beginning,” said Hithium President Jason Wang. Upon full buildout of the facility the company aims to achieve 720 GW of energy storage by 2030 while representing one of the most advanced automation production lines in the world.

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PepsiCo looks to expand raw material areas and sustainable agricultural practices in Vietnam through its
new investment.

Photo courtesy of PepsiCo

Construction of PepsiCo’s new 86,000-sq.-ft. snack manufacturing facility is set to begin soon in Vietnam’s Dong Van I Expanded Industrial Park thanks to a deal with Vietnamese developer Plaschem announced in December. PepsiCo is investing $90 million in the project and anticipates producing over 23,000 tons per year of popular snacks such as Lay’s, Doritos and Cheetos. This location in Ha Nam Province is expected to be complete by mid-2025, serving the Vietnamese and Cambodian markets. Since PepsiCo began operations in Vietnam in the 1990s the company has invested $500 million in operations and has created over 13,000 jobs across 14 facilities in Ho Chi Minh, Can Tho, Quang Nam, Bac Ninh, Dong Nai, and Quang Nam. “Ha Nam Province is an appealing destination,” said Thomas Rooney, senior manager of Industrial Services at Savills Ha Noi and the lead consultant for the project, in a release, “as it is only an hour to main consumer markets in Ha Noi with road transport infrastructure, favorable tax incentives and the potential for future expansion.”

Reports compiled and written by Alexis Elmore