The exact page text, read by your browser's voice.
Data centers · Battery plant · Steel finishers · Proving ground · Named builders
Lead: Re-read as a technology roster, the present employers on this ground form a single stack: a ground to test vehicles on, mills that finish steel for vehicles, a plant that will make vehicle batteries, and a campus that computes. Four works, one township, dated November 2026.
The computing layer — Amazon Web Services, Project Rainier campus. Announced April 25, 2024 at $11 billion and at least 1,000 jobs; reported by AWS in July 2026 at $13.8 billion invested with about 18 buildings operating toward a reported full build of about 32 buildings, 6.5 million square feet, and 2.25 GW. Operator of record: Amazon Data Services, Inc. Named in the public record in their roles: Roger Wehner, AWS director of economic development, at the announcement; Governor Eric Holcomb and Carl Baxmeyer, president of the St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners, for the state and county. The campus's workload identity — Anthropic's Claude training and serving on Trainium2 silicon — is reported technical character (see the computing article), printed as reported.
The battery layer — Samsung SDI, sole owner since August 2026. Announced June 13, 2023 as a General Motors–Samsung SDI joint venture: more than $3 billion, 1,700 jobs at announcement, on a 680-acre IEC site at Larrison Boulevard and Indiana 2. The joint-venture agreement was finalized August 28, 2024 at approximately $3.5 billion, initial capacity 27 GWh rising to 36 GWh, NCA nickel-rich prismatic cells, mass production targeted for 2027, over 1,600 jobs in the finalized telling. The 2026 course must be printed whole: GM paused construction in May 2026 citing softer EV demand, and on August 11, 2026 Samsung SDI announced it had acquired GM's 49.99% stake in the venture — reported under the name SynergyCells — taking sole ownership, with an energy-storage-system (ESS) battery line (prismatic LFP cells in Samsung Battery Box containers, under a December 10, 2025 supply contract of over KRW 2 trillion / about $1.35 billion to an undisclosed U.S. customer, deliveries from 2027) alongside the original automotive tooling. As of the last reporting read (October 2026), the plant remained under construction with no new completion date confirmed. The roster therefore lists the battery plant as Samsung SDI's, not as a GM plant — the older joint-venture telling is superseded and both are printed, dated.
The steel layer — I/N Tek and I/N Kote (Cleveland-Cliffs / Nippon Steel). The stack's elders. I/N Tek: a continuous cold-rolling works, joint venture of Inland Steel and Nippon Steel, announced March 1987, commercial production from March 1990, described at startup as the only U.S. continuous cold-rolling mill and the world's most advanced cold-rolled finishing mill, at about 3,000 tons a day at full production in its president John Selky's contemporary account; ownership today 60–40 (ArcelorMittal's successor interest now held through Cleveland-Cliffs, per the county tenant roll naming “Cleveland-Cliffs Tek and Kote,” with Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal). I/N Kote: the adjacent coating works, second joint venture (50–50), $450 million as announced, electrogalvanizing and hot-dip lines of 900,000 tons' combined annual capacity (500,000 tons hot-dip/ galvannealed and 400,000 tons electrogalvanized in the county record), on about 25 acres. Customers, per the county: automotive and appliance markets. Named builders in the record: George Landsly, I/N Tek manager, who coordinated site selection from 1984; John Selky, I/N Tek president at startup.
The proving layer — International Proving Grounds (Navistar / International Motors). The 1926 works under its current holder (see the founding-works article): acquired from Bosch April 1, 2015, at 668 acres, now described by its holder at 675 acres, testing International trucks and buses and hosting outside manufacturers. It is the roster's continuity proof: the same ground has carried a technology payroll for one hundred years.
The base-builders, named only as the public record names them. For the county that assembled the ground: Bill Schalliol, executive director of the county's Division of Economic Development / Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Growth, the named presenter of the IEC water and development agreements across 2024–2026; Carl Baxmeyer, Board of Commissioners president, at the AWS announcement. For the town that supplies the water: the Town Council under its president Marcy Kauffman, named in 2026 reporting on the town's data-center limits — including the town's opposition to a further 1,000-plus-acre data-center proposal, rejected by the County Council — a reminder printed with the roster that the movers include the people who said no.
Sources:
- Amazon (Apr. 25, 2024) and IEDC/GlobeNewswire announcement; Manufacturing Magazine (Aug. 2026) and WNDU (July 23, 2026) for the $13.8B / 18-buildings update.
- Samsung SDI, “Samsung SDI and General Motors Finalize Agreement to Establish Battery Joint Venture in the U.S.,” Aug. 28, 2024, samsungsdi.com — $3.5B, 680 acres, 27→36 GWh, 2027 target, over 1,600 jobs. IEDC / Area Development (June 2023) for the original $3B+ / 1,700-jobs announcement. Manufacturing Magazine and WSBT reporting (Aug.–Oct. 2026) for the May 2026 pause and Samsung SDI's Aug. 11, 2026 acquisition of GM's 49.99% stake and the ESS pivot, incl. the Dec. 10, 2025 ESS contract — reported figures, no completion date confirmed as of Oct. 2026.
- St. Joseph County, New Carlisle Economic Development Area page — I/N Tek 60–40 and I/N Kote 50–50 joint ventures, Kote capacities and 25 acres, automotive/appliance customers. Indiana Business Magazine (1990) — I/N Tek startup, Selky and Landsly in their roles, Hirohata-pattern technology. Cambridge CBR Working Paper 137 (1999) — I/N built 1987–1990 by Inland and Nippon Steel; 1998 Ispat succession.
- Heavy Duty Trucking (May 2015) and International Motors centennial account (2026) — proving-ground succession and present state. PanoramaNow / South Bend Tribune reporting (2026) — Marcy Kauffman, Town Council President, in her public role; Bill Schalliol in his county role.