Albemarle to build $1.3 billion lithium plant in South Carolina

By Sourasis Bose, Arunima Kumar and Ernest Scheyder

Albemarle Corp (NYSE: ALB) said on Wednesday it had chosen Chester County, South Carolina, as the location for a $1.3 billion lithium processing plant it hopes will cement its status as a cornerstone of the rapidly growing U.S. electric vehicle industry.

Already the world’s largest lithium producer with major facilities in Chile, China and Australia, Albemarle has moved aggressively to expand in the United States, which it sees as its next major area of growth thanks to tax credits and other incentives offered by the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act.