What was supposed to be a massive clean-energy jobs engine for the greater Memphis area just hit an abrupt speed bump. Amplify Cell Technologies has laid off workers at its under-construction battery plant in northern Mississippi, shaking confidence in a project that local leaders had touted as a once-in-a-generation economic win.
The factory, rising near Byhalia on the Marshall County line just outside Memphis, had been advertised as a multibillion-dollar facility expected to employ roughly 2,000 people once fully up and running. The layoffs, coming before the plant even opens its doors, have cooled some of that early excitement and raised fresh questions about when production will actually begin.
According to the Memphis Business Journal, the company cut jobs at the north Mississippi construction site on Wednesday, though it did not publicly disclose how many workers were affected. The site is part of Amplify’s joint venture between Accelera by Cummins, Daimler Truck, and PACCAR, and the outlet reported that company representatives did not immediately provide additional comment.
Project size and timeline
On paper, the project is enormous. Company materials describe the factory as a roughly 2.6-million-square-foot, 21-gigawatt-hour plant spread across a multi-hundred-acre site in Marshall County, with construction kicking off in 2024. Amplify Cell Technologies highlights the Byhalia location and its production targets on its website, while PACCAR notes the project’s footprint in an investor presentation…