Lego opens groundbreaking $1 billion factory with incredible ambitions: 'Sometimes it takes a big company ... to take those risks'
Lego opened a remarkable $1 billion factory in Vietnam designed to make beloved toy bricks without adding carbon pollution, reported The Associated Press.
The new facility near Ho Chi Minh City will run on clean energy by early 2026, making it Vietnam's first factory to reach this environmental goal.
The impressive operation covers an area equal to 62 soccer fields and uses 12,400 solar panels with a battery storage system that will supply most of the factory's electricity needs.
This development helps both toy makers and eco-minded parents.
Lego is working to cut pollution by 37% by 2032 and reach net zero by 2050. The factory already uses paper bags instead of single-use plastic for packaging and has planted twice as many trees as were removed during construction.
The Vietnam location also makes strategic business sense for the Danish toy maker.
By placing factories in regions they supply, Lego can avoid tariffs and better serve growing markets in Southeast Asia. The company will open a distribution center in Vietnam's southern Dong Nai province to help serve Australia and other Asian countries.
Inside the factory, highly advanced robots make colorful bricks with incredible precision: to a 10th of a hair's width. The facility will employ thousands of skilled workers trained at Lego's factory in eastern China to operate these sophisticated machines.
Vietnam stands to gain from this project as well.
The country aims to reach net-zero pollution by 2050 and hopes this factory will set an example for more green manufacturing. A new 2024 rule allows big foreign companies to buy clean energy directly from solar and wind power producers, helping Lego meet its clean energy goals.
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"We just want to make sure that the planet that the children inherit when they grow up needs to be a planet that is still there. That is functional," Lego CEO Niels Christiansen told the AP.
Mimi Vu, founder of the consultancy Raise Partners in Ho Chi Minh City, explained that the factory shows how large, energy-heavy factories can be sustainable yet remain profitable.
"Sometimes it takes a big company, like Lego, to take those risks. To show that we can do it … and we can be profitable," she said.
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