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Watch live: Macron visits site for new Taiwanese gigafactory plant in northern France

Sophie Thompson
Friday 12 May 2023 09:47 EDT
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Macron visits site for new Taiwanese gigafactory plant in northern France

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French president Emmanuel Macron is today visiting the site of a new 'gigafactory' in Dunkirk, northern France (12 May).

Taiwanese company ProLogium will build the battery hub, which will help power more electric cars by bringing supplies closer to Europe.

The factory, which is the fourth of its kind, will involve an investment of 4 billion euros ($4.4 billion) and create over 3,000 jobs - on top of the 5,500 that the other three factories have provided.

France was chosen after a shortlist of 13 countries was narrowed down - and it’ll be ProLogium’s first factory outside of Taiwan after Macron pitched for it last year.

“There was then the realisation that there might be some interesting possibilities, which was maybe a little bit different from the clichés about France,” ProLogium vice president, Gilles Normand, told the media.

Production is set to begin in 2026.

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