Danish toy giant Lego unveiled on Wednesday plans to expand the company's manufacturing to the United States, announcing a $1 billion investment to construct a factory in Chesterfield, Virginia.
"This is an exciting step for the LEGO Group. More and more families are falling in love with LEGO® building and we are looking forward to making LEGO bricks in the US, one of our largest markets," Lego CEO Niels B. Christiansen said. "The location in Virginia allows us to build a solar park which supports our sustainability ambitions and provides easy links to country-wide transportation networks. We are also looking forward to creating fantastic employment opportunities for the people of Virginia."
The 1.7 million square foot factory will bring over 1,700 new jobs to Chesterfield. According to Lego, the facility will also be entirely carbon-neutral, with its energy needs met by an adjacent solar power facility. Lego has also stated that the factory will "[minimize] energy consumption and use of non-renewable resources," which aligns well with the company's plans to increase the number of its eponymous bricks made using recycled materials.
Putting a factory in the United States will place the globally recognized brand right within one of its largest markets. To give it further staying power, Lego is planning expansions to its existing factories in China, Mexico, and Europe. Last year, the company also announced a new factory to be constructed in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
The new factory will be the second built by Lego in the United States, with the company previously operating a factory in Connecticut. The previous facility was closed in 2006 amid the rise of electronic and interactive toys, though Lego has since seen a massive resurgence in popularity, aided by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The expansion of Lego's presence in the toy market with a new factory comes during a time of relatively strong performance for the company. In addition to re-capturing childrens' and adults' attention with its building sets, Lego has also established itself well in the media space.
The Lego Movie heralded a new era for the company's ambitions, with a slate of films and television shows following suit over the subsequent years, each with a solid financial and critical performance. Having already been in the gaming space since the days of CDs and plastic jewel cases, Lego also appears to be looking to take its presence to the next level through a partnership with Sony (NYSE: SONY) to create family-friendly metaverse attractions.