The Virginia plant will be the company’s second in North America and 7th worldwide, after announcing a new plant in Vietnam last year. (Credit: Playback/Pixabay)
Lego is planning to spend more than $1 billion to build a factory in the United States. Construction on the 157,000-square-meter factory will begin in the second half of the year and toy production is expected to take place in the second half of 2025.
The plant in Virginia will be the Danish company’s second in North America and seventh worldwide, after announcing a new plant in Vietnam last year.
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Lego already had a US factory in Connecticut, but that facility closed in 2006 because the company said children prefer to play with electronics. Times have changed: Like other toy makers, Lego is in the midst of a pandemic-induced boom as families seek home entertainment.
Its sales rose 27% last year, boosted by new store openings in China and customers returning to its reopened stores. The family-owned company said it surpassed the toy industry in all major markets during the year, when sales of its plastic bricks totaled more than $8 billion.
“More and more families are falling in love with building Lego, and we look forward to making Lego bricks in the US, one of our biggest markets,” CEO Niels B. Christiansen said in a statement.
Building a factory in the US also helps the company meet demand here, particularly when supply chains are clogged and the cost of shipping goods is rising amid record fuel prices.
“Our factories are located close to our biggest markets, which shortens the distance our products have to travel,” LEGO COO Carsten Rasmussen said in the statement. “Our new factory in the US and expanded capacity at our existing site in Mexico means we will be able to better support long-term growth in the Americas.”
Christiansen also noted that Virginia was chosen for the carbon-neutral factory because it allows them to “build a solar park that supports our sustainability ambitions and provides easy connections to transportation networks across the country.”
The company has long been targeted by climate advocates for its bricks and plastic packaging. The company has increased its sustainability efforts in recent years. It announced in 2020 that it plans to package its products in recyclable paper instead of single-use plastic. And last year, Lego unveiled a prototype brick made from recycled plastic.
The company currently employs 2,600 people in the United States and has more than 100 stores.
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