The company announced plans on Wednesday for a 1.7 million square foot facility in Virginia, which will employ about 1,800 people by 2025. It will be the Danish company’s seventh global factory and its second in North America – the other being located in Monterrey, Mexico.
Sales increased 27% last year thanks to new store openings in China and customers flocking back to the reopened stores. The family-owned company said it had surpassed the toy industry in all major markets over 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 largest markets,” CEO Niels B. Christiansen said in a statement.
Building a factory in the US will also help the company meet demand here, especially when supply chains are congested and costs to ship goods soar amid record fuel prices.
“Our factories are close to our largest markets, which shortens the distance our products have to travel,” Lego COO Carsten Rasmussen said in the statement. “Our new facility in the US and expanded capacity at our existing location in Mexico means we can best support long-term growth in the Americas.”
Christiansen also noted that Virginia was chosen for the carbon neutral plant because it will allow them to “build a solar farm that supports our sustainability ambitions and provides easy connections to nationwide transportation networks.”
The company currently employs 2,600 people in the United States and has more than 100 stores.
— Reuters contributed to this report.
