LS Electric to invest $240m to ramp up US production

LS Electric will invest $240 million to expand its production facility in Bastrop, Texas, as the Korean power equipment company looks to bolster its presence in the US market, the company said Wednesday.

“The US market and the Bastrop Campus will serve as a solid stepping stone for LS Electric to become a global enterprise,” said LS Electric CEO and Chairman Koo Ja-kyun during the completion ceremony of LS Electric Bastrop Campus on Tuesday.

“We will invest an additional $240 million by 2030 to expand production facilities, hire local talent and grow the campus into a North American power solutions hub that thrives alongside the local community.”

The CEO noted that LS Electric will push for localization across all business value chains including products, solutions, supply chains and services by expanding infrastructure for production, technology and services across the US.

“This investment marks the starting point of (LS Electric’s) goal to achieve 70 percent overseas sales share and to become a top four power company in the US,” said Koo.

LS Electric acquired a 46,000-square-meter site in Bastrop in 2023 to set up manufacturing facilities, research labs and design centers there. According to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, the cost of the Korean firm’s Bastrop project was estimated at $400,000.

With the completion of the Bastrop Campus, LS Electric plans to begin producing power equipment, which will be supplied to local big tech firms, at the site this year. The company said local manufacturing will, to a degree, help ease the burden of tariff pressure from the US administration.

LS Electric added that it will accelerate the expansion of its business in the US based on the completion of the Bastrop Campus as well as its subsidiary MCM Engineering II in Cedar City, Utah.

Recently, the company has been thriving on the US' increasing need for energy and changes to the country’s decades-old power grids, logging record annual figures last year with 4.55 trillion won ($3.18 billion) in revenue and 389.7 billion won in operating profit, up 7.6 percent and 27.6 percent on-year. The company posted 1.3 trillion won in US revenue then.

“Establishing a production base through bold investment not only ensures stable supply but also provides a strong response to escalating import regulations and tariff risks,” said an official at LS Electric.