Entek breaks ground on $1.5B campus in Terre Haute
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Executives from Oregon-based Entek joined federal, state and local officials on Wednesday to break ground on a $1.5 billion manufacturing campus in Terre Haute.
The 1.4 million-square-foot facility at the former Pfizer property in the Vigo County Industrial Park II will produce battery separators for lithium-ion battery manufacturers across the country.
The project, first announced in March, is expected to result in 650 jobs by the end of 2027.
A battery separator is a micro-porous membrane that goes between the positive and negative side, or the anode and cathode, that insulates the batteries from shorting out, Entek CEO Larry Keith told Inside INdiana Business in March.
Entek says the facility in Terre Haute will be the first phase of an expansion to produce about 1.4 billion square meters of lithium-ion battery separators. The new location will initially have eight production lines, but Keith said that number could expand to 18.
Production could begin as early as 2025, according to the company.
Gov. Eric Holcomb, Congressman Larry Bucschon (R-08), and State Senator Jon Ford (R-Terre Haute) were among the many officials attending the groundbreaking ceremony.