Republican Tennessee Governor Bill Lee thanked the South Korean company Unitech for investing $30 million to locate its first U.S. facility in the rural town of Morrison, TN (population 740). In the first phase of the project, Unitech will create 75 new jobs in Warren County (population 40,953).
Unitech’s facility in the Volunteer State will produce “thermal adhesives and battery compression pads for electric vehicle battery manufacturers across the Southeast as well as industrial adhesives and sealers for its automotive customers.” Fellow Korean corporate giant Hyundai is a key customer of Unitech.
Our strong economy & skilled workforce have made us the center of the automotive universe, creating a ripple effect for suppliers to do business in TN.
— Gov. Bill Lee (@GovBillLee) January 12, 2024
We thank Unitech for investing $30M to locate its first US facility in TN, which will create quality jobs for Tennesseans. pic.twitter.com/KSmBzgs06o
Lee said of the Unitech investment: “Our strong economy & skilled workforce have made us the center of the automotive universe, creating a ripple effect for suppliers to do business in TN.”
Note: In September 2020, during the Trump administration, Lee supported a Tennessee delegation that traveled to Beijing, China to encourage companies to invest in Tennessee.
Six months later, in March 2021, during the Biden administration, Lee announced that the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development had closed its foreign investment center in China and “forced closure” of Confucius Institutes at Tennessee universities (which were already closed at the University of Tennessee and University of Memphis, among others).
Lee said in a statement: “After the federal government rolled back critical reporting requirements around Confucius Institutes, my administration is taking action to provide Tennessee taxpayers greater transparency in all foreign investment on our campuses.”
_(cropped).jpg){kind=link}