While the world struggles with the COVID-19, LG Chem continues its efforts to expand its lithium-ion battery gigafactory in Poland, which is poised for 65 GWh annually at some point in the future.

The company recently sent a group of 200 engineers from South Korea, on a special LOT Polish Airlines flight, to be able to launch new production lines. As the Polish sky is in lockdown, just like basically the rest of the continent, the flight on April 17 was government-approved.

"It is an exception to the country’s strict measures to contain the coronavirus outbreak."

Moreover, there are reports that the group was waived from 14-day obligatory quarantine (all engineers were tested on COVID-19 before the flight in South Korea).

"To facilitate the immediate deployment of essential personnel, the Polish government is expected to waive its two-week quarantine requirement for LG Chem employees who have tested negative for COVID-19 in Korea."

Both South Korea and Poland are in relatively good shape in terms of the coronavirus outbreak as the number of cases is above 10,500 and above 9,200, respectively.

Since the LG Chem plant is one of the biggest investments in the country, and with the automotive industry eagerly waiting more battery cells, the plant seems to be prioritized. It's kind of a different tactic than in the case of Tesla Gigafactory in Nevada, which was temporarily shut down.