A Former GM and Lordstown Motors Factory Might Become an AI Data Center

Miami Herald

21 hours ago

A recent Bloomberg report has revealed the identity of the mystery buyer who purchased the former General Motors and Lordstown Motors factory in Lordstown, Ohio, in a series of multimillion-dollar transactions involving the acquisition of the factory's buildings, land, equipment, and machinery.
According to unnamed sources who spoke with the business publication, the Japanese investment firm SoftBank is the party responsible for acquiring the vehicle plant in Lordstown, Ohio. SoftBank is primarily known for its investments in the technology sector, and the acquisition is said to be in support of its Stargate data center project.
The Stargate project, initiated in collaboration with OpenAI and Oracle, aims to invest $500 billion by 2029 toward building infrastructure that supports artificial intelligence (AI) models like ChatGPT. A major backbone of this project is the construction of a large data center in Texas, which is currently underway. However, the companies involved have expressed that they're interested in building similar facilities in other states and countries.
However, in May, Bloomberg reported that SoftBank was struggling to line up funding for the project and was already hampered by the Trump administration's tariffs and trade levies. The source noted that although SoftBank has not yet developed a financial plan for Stargate, it has approached Foxconn to collaborate on building AI data centers and related infrastructure across the United States. The sale of the EV plant is said to be a part of these efforts by the Japanese investment firm.
Earlier this week, Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn, the contract manufacturer known for building notable consumer favorites like the Nintendo Switch game console and the Apple iPhone, sold the former General Motors car factory in Lordstown, Ohio, to "Crescent Dune LLC" for a total of $375 million. Crescent Dune is a two-week-old Delaware LLC; however, Foxconn spokesperson Matt Dewine stated that the buyer is an "existing business partner."
Per Taiwan stock exchange filings, the site itself, including the land and buildings, was sold for around $88 million, while manufacturing equipment from Foxconn's EV subsidiaries fetched around $287 million. In a statement to Automotive News, Foxconn said that Lordstown is an "integral part of the company's footprint" in the U.S., adding that the decision to sell it "is part of the company's plan to expand into new business areas."
Though they also stated that they plan to continue operations at the Lordstown site and are still committed to the auto industry, a previous report from The Wall Street Journal said that Foxconn intends to repurpose the EV factory to build AI hardware and equipment at the site. Already, Foxconn has a manufacturing facility in Houston for AI servers and has partnered with electronics giants like Apple and Nvidia to establish AI-related facilities in the U.S.
GM operated the Lordstown facility from 1966 to 2019, where it made a variety of different cars, including Chevy full-size cars, as well as compact cars like the Vega, Monza, Cavalier, Cobalt, and Cruze. In 2019, Lordstown Motors purchased the facility to manufacture the Lordstown Endurance electric pickup. In 2022, Foxconn acquired the facility after the EV company encountered financial difficulties and managed to assemble a small number of electric pickups before Lordstown Motors filed for bankruptcy in June 2023.
Several other startups, including Fisker, considered partnering with Foxconn to manufacture electric vehicles at Lordstown; however, those plans ultimately fell through. Currently, Foxconn is using the Lordstown plant to assemble electric tractors for Monarch, a California-based startup.
As I have said before, Foxconn's Lordstown factory can be a crucial asset for automakers who want to reduce their tariff impact, as in its GM days, it produced nearly 16 million vehicles between 1966 and 2019 and peaked at 290,000 cars in 2014. The fact that this AI avenue is something that is seriously being considered for the Lordstown plant, with significant backing from a firm as powerful as SoftBank, really solidifies my belief that this was a wasted opportunity to possibly onshore a car company that exclusively manufactures overseas.
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