Samsung Electronics Co. will be spending $380 million to establish a home appliance manufacturing base in South Carolina of the United States that would first be turning out washing machines from early next year and creating 950 jobs over the next three.

The South Korean tech giant on Wednesday in local time signed a letter of intent with the state of South Carolina to purchase an idle site in Newberry, 150 miles northwest of the port of Charleston that was used by American heavy equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. until last year, and renovate it into a factory for home appliances.

The signing ceremony has been timed with President Moon Jae-in’s first state visit to the U.S. and summit with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump, but the electronics behemoth stressed that the plan had been long sought and was not motivated by Trump’s American First agenda offering incentives for companies adding manufacturing jobs in the U.S. and punitive tariffs on imports deemed to hurt domestic industry.

Samsung and LG washers made outside the country are currently under safeguard investigation by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) upon compliant by U.S. washer maker Whirlpool that had lost its top position in the U.S. washing machine market to Samsung Electronics. Samsung accounted for 18.7 percent washer sales in the U.S. in 2016.

“The newly built factory will be a basis for long-term growth in the world’s largest home appliance market,” the company said in a statement.

The company plans to turn out other appliances but did not specify.

“This new investment will enable Samsung to increase the speed with which we can deliver premium home appliances that reflect the regional preferences of our fastest growing and most important consumer market,” said Yoon Boo-keun, president of Samsung Electronics’ consumer electronics division.

Samsung in September last year acquired California-based luxury home appliance brand Dacor and the Newberry plant would, in theory, make its second home appliance manufacturing base in the U.S.

The last time the company directly produced home appliance from the U.S. was in 1991 when it had closed down a TV plant.

It has been considering manufacturing base in the U.S. since three years ago and reviewed multiple sites. The company said it picked Newberry for its high-skilled workforce, robust supply chain and transportation infrastructure, and commitment to public-private partnerships.

At 1:00 p.m. shares of Samsung Electronics were up 1 percent at 2,411,000 won (2,116.77).

By Kim Dong-eun

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]