Lego is planning to invest more than $1 billion over the next 10 years in a new U.S factory, the Danish company announced on Wednesday.
The 1.7-million square foot plant will be located in the state of Virginia and is expected to employ 1,760 people once it is completed in 2025. Lego will strengthen the company’s capacity in North America after a year earlier announced a similar investment in Asia.
“More and more families are falling in love with Lego building and we are looking forward to making Lego bricks in the U.S., one of our largest markets,” Lego’s CEO Niels Christiansen said in a statement.
Lego COO Carsten Rasmussen explained that the firm’s factories are located close to their biggest markets, helping the company meet demand when global supply chains are still suffering and shipping costs are surging amid record fuel prices.
The new plant will be the toy manufacturers’ seventh global factory and second in North America, the other is located in Monterrey, Mexico, which capacity will be also expanded.
Lego closed a small factory in Connecticut in 2006. Now, just like other toy makers, the company is expanding in the midst of a pandemic-induced boom.
The family owned company said the state of Virginia was chosen for allowing them to build a solar plant and providing easy links to country-wide transportation networks. Production in the new facility is due to start in 2024.
