On May 12, 2023, French President Emmanuel Macron stated that China Xiamen Xiamen Tungsten New Energy Materials Co., Ltd. plans to establish a battery field laboratory with the French company Orano in Dunkirk, a port city in northern France. Joint venture with an expected investment of EUR 1.5 billion.

Macron also said: The joint venture between Xiamen Tungsten New Energy and Orano will allow us to secure an upstream position in the lithium battery production value chain.

Macron, Chairman of the Haute-France Region Council Bertrand (1st from left), Patrice Vergriete, Mayor of Dunkirk (2nd from left), and Yang Sinan, CEO of ProLogium Technology, at the event on May 12

Orano Group said that it will announce specific information at the Alternative France summit on May 15, 2023.

French President Macron announced that Xiamen Xiamen Tungsten New Energy Materials Co., Ltd. of China and Orano of France will invest 1.5 billion euros in a lithium battery-related factory in Dunkirk and create 1,700 jobs. He said in Dunkirk: We have just signed a production agreement with Xiamen Tungsten New Energy and Orano for lithium battery cathode materials.

The announcement came hours after Taiwan's ProLogium Technology Co. formalized plans to build an electric vehicle battery production plant in Dunkirk. This will be ProLogium's first battery factory in Europe, bringing the number of electric vehicle battery factories in France to four, and increasing its production capacity to the third in Europe. Gilles Normand, vice president of ProLogium Technology, said that a real electric vehicle battery ecosystem is taking shape in northern France. Macron pointed out that Xiamen Tungsten New Energy's joint venture with Orano is complementary to ProLogium's factory because it will be upstream in the production of batteries for electric vehicles.

Macron speaks at a battery factory in Dunkirk on Friday

Xiamen Tungsten New Energy specializes in the production of lithium battery materials, especially lithium batteries for electric vehicles. Material products, actively carry out the development of next-generation energy new material products such as lithium-rich manganese base and 5V high voltage, and widely serve many well-known battery customers at home and abroad.

In addition, France's Nord and Pas-de-Calais will welcome three other factories, namely: the ACC battery factory in Douvrin near Lens (a joint venture between Stellantis Group, Total Energy and Mercedes-Benz), which will start from The Envision AESC plant (in Douai), which will produce batteries for Renault from early 2025, and the third plant of the Grenoble start-up Verkor, which will start production from mid-2025.

By 2030, Dunkirk will have more than 20,000 new jobs. Macron stressed that the city will now focus on skills and training, the mother of all battles, after losing nearly 6,000 industrial jobs in the previous 20 years.Editor/Ma Xue