Nearly €1.7 billion will be invested by Umicore and PowerCo in a new plant to produce active cathode materials (CAM) for electric vehicle batteries by the end of 2030. The factory will be located in Nysa (Opolskie Voivodeship) on the grounds of the Walbrzych Special Economic Zone “INVEST-PARK”.

The production facility is to operate for Umicore’s partner PowerCo. The two companies formalised their cooperation for this purpose, at the beginning of 2023, creating a project and joint-venture company called IONWAY.

Umicore Group has been present in Poland since 2015. The plant in Nysa will be their third investment in Poland, and the second in which cathode battery materials will be produced for European automotive customers. Construction work is expected to start later this year and production should begin in 2026. The factory is expected to create around 900 new jobs by 2030.

“Umicore and PowerCo’s investment is the best proof that Poland is among the leading countries in terms of attracting the largest and at the same time the most innovative investments”, said the Minister of Development and Technology Waldemar Buda. He stressed that this is an investment that supports Poland’s sustainable economic and energy transformation towards zero-carbon. “At the same time, the venture will be a flywheel for the development of the local economy, which will have a measurable impact on creating new jobs and increasing the attractiveness of the region”, Minister Buda added.

According to Umicore and PowerCo, the location of the investment is situated in Central Europe and has well-developed transport links to the target markets. As a result, logistics costs can be reduced, which is particularly important for the completeness of the supply chain, which is a key element of the closed cycle of battery materials for the partnership of the two companies, within the project and the newly established company IONWAY.

Adrian Andrzejewski