A California-based manufacturer is looking at opening a lithium-ion battery plant in Lynchburg, backed by a $100 million federal award.
State Sen. Mark Peake, R-Lynchburg, confirmed that a state commission approved an additional economic incentive package for the company, Applied Materials, on Thursday.
Peake, who is not a member of the commission, said it’s anticipated the company will add about 100 jobs to the city.
“I’m happy any time we get a major employment investment in Lynchburg,” Peake said.
Santa Clara, California-based Applied Materials provides the engineering and equipment to make semiconductor chips and flat-panel displays, among other products, according to its website. It has more than 34,000 employees in 24 countries and earns more than $26 billion in annual revenue.
Details about the Lynchburg project, including a timeline, its exact future location and what kind of incentive package was approved, remain unclear.
Company officials could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Lynchburg’s city manager, economic development director and city spokesperson declined to comment Thursday.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s press secretary, Christian Martinez, said in an email that “Youngkin and the administration are actively working on several major and exciting economic development opportunities for the Commonwealth.”
“The Governor looks forward to sharing the details of these projects when they are ready,” Martinez said.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch was the first to report the news Thursday of the state Major Employment Investment Project Review Commission approving the incentives package for Applied Materials’ Lynchburg plans.
The commission is made up of 12 members of the state Senate and House of Delegates, plus the state finance secretary and secretary of commerce and trade as nonvoting members. It’s tasked with reviewing financing for incentive packages for major employment and investment projects.
The Times-Dispatch cited U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, as confirming the project and quoted him being “glad to see companies considering major investments in the commonwealth that will create hundreds of good-paying manufacturing jobs.”
Spokespeople for Warner did not return a message seeking comment Thursday afternoon. Warner was an author of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that funded Applied Materials’ $100 million U.S. Department of Energy award.
The award was announced in October 2022.
“Applied Materials, Inc. intends to set up an advanced prelithiation and lithium anode manufacturing facility to accelerate the transition to next-generation lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries and enable the development of a robust U.S. battery component supply chain,” according to a Department of Energy fact sheet published at the time. “The proposed facility will support industrial-scale production of advanced lithiated anodes for multiple battery cell makers and automobile manufacturers.”
The DOE fact sheet and related news reports at the time said that the plant was headed to North Carolina.
But today, the project is listed on the portfolio website of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains with a location of Lynchburg, Virginia.
The MESC website lists the $100 million federal award as well as a “recipient share” of more than $109 million.
It names the project as an “Advanced Prelithiation and Lithium Anode Manufacturing Facility” but provides no further details.
“MESC serves as the frontline of clean energy deployment, accelerating America’s transition to a resilient, equitable energy future through $20 billion of direct investments in manufacturing capacity and workforce development,” the website states.
The Lynchburg project is also referenced in a December 2023 review document from the Department of Energy’s National Environmental Policy Act compliance office.
Applied Materials already has a Virginia location in Manassas.
In November, Reuters reported that the company is under criminal investigation for potentially evading restrictions on exporting products to China.
Earlier this month, news organizations reported that the company is considering postponing or abandoning plans to build a $4 billion research and development facility in Silicon Valley because of a lack of government funding.