Apr 14, 2025
South Korean tech giant LG Electronics Inc. will build new home appliance production lines, including for refrigerators, at its Tennessee plant in the United States. The move aims to boost local manufacturing capabilities in the country in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policy.
According to sources from the Clarksville Montgomery County Industrial Development Board (IDB) on Sunday, LG Electronics’ production facility expansion plan will be presented as an agenda item at the IDB meeting on April 22nd, 2025 (local time).
The expansion project, titled “LG Electronics Tennessee Phase II,” involves building a new 55,600-square-meter plant on a site of approximately 1.26 million square meters, where its existing washer and dryer plant is located.
LG Electronics is looking to convert the new plant into a refrigerator production line after constructing the facility, with a source saying that the company is conducting due diligence to assess whether the local conditions in Clarksville, Tennessee, are suitable for refrigerator manufacturing.
LG Electronics currently manufactures refrigerators in Mexico and Korea and exports them to the United States.
“We have secured building sites for refrigerator and oven production at our Tennessee plant as a last option when the U.S. tariff on Mexican goods takes effect,” LG Electronics Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Cho Joo-wan said at the company’s shareholders’ meeting in March 2025.
A source said that “LG Electronics can install new production lines” but that “it may take time before actual appliance production begins.”
Once it receives preliminary approval, LG Electronics plans to proceed with applying for building permits and reviews, infrastructure and utility consultations, tax incentives and job creation negotiations, and construction work. The company intends to complete administrative processes first and then flexibly adjust production timing based on market conditions.
Within LG Group, other projects such as the expansion of LG Chem Ltd.’s cathode material plant in Tennessee and LG Energy Solution Ltd.’s electric vehicle battery plants in Michigan and Arizona are also progressing smoothly. The total amount that LG Group is currently investing or plans to invest in the United States over the next four years is said to exceed $20 billion.