By Li Panpan

(JW Insights) Feb 14 -- Chinese battery giant CATL has accepted the cooperation invitation from Ford and will provide its battery factory in Michigan with preparation and operation services and technology licensing, learned JW Insights from a report from China Securities Journal on February 13.

Ford announced a $3.5 billion Michigan factory with China’s CATL, with 35GWh per year output in LFP batteries starting in 2026, according to the EV news website in the US, Electrek, on February 13. The factory will have 2,500 new or transferring Ford US employees and an unknown amount of CATL employees.

There were previous reports that Ford and CATL are exploring a new ownership structure for the cooperative factory in which Ford will obtain 100% of the factory's equity, including buildings and infrastructure, and CATL will operate the factory with its battery manufacturing technology retained. Such an arrangement may allow the facility to qualify for lucrative production tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act while requiring no direct financial investment from CATL.