Indian conglomerate Tata Group has struck an agreement with the country’s government to invest at least Rs130bn ($1.58bn) to build a gigafactory in the city of Sanand. The deal is tipped to be a major step towards establishing India’s electric vehicle (EV) supply chain.

The memorandum of understanding was announced on June 3 by the state government of Gujarat, where the lithium-ion battery facility is to be located. It will have a 20 gigawatt (GW) capacity and will reportedly generate employment for 13,000 people. 

Construction of the gigafactory is expected to start by 2026. 

Bosch expands in North Carolina 

Multinational engineering firm Bosch is ploughing another $130m into its power tools manufacturing plant in North Carolina. Announcing the news on June 1, the state’s governor Roy Cooper said the expansion of the German-headquartered firm’s facility in Lincoln County will create 400 jobs. 

The expansion, which is supported by a 12-year state-government grant, is expected to grow North Carolina’s economy by more than $1bn over that period. “When pioneers like Bosch expand in North Carolina, it validates our position as the best place for business,”  state commerce secretary Machelle Baker Sanders said in a statement.

AstraZeneca commits to China 

The new chair of British–Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has told the Financial Times it is doubling down on China despite other governments’ regulatory clampdown of investment and trade with Beijing over national security and economic coercion concerns. 

“When you are a global company like AstraZeneca, you have always to cope with geopolitical risk and you have to try to manage that without getting too involved,” Michel Demaré told the newspaper. He added that “there are industries where there are more tensions, of course, but it doesn’t apply to our own pharmaceutical industry.”

And finally: Nikkei estimates that investment into North American EVs between 2022 and 2028 will surpass $140bn.