On Tuesday 10 February 2026, the Taiwanese group ProLogium officially launched work on its battery gigafactory in Dunkirk, in the Hauts-de-France region, after announcing the project in 2023. Specialising in solid electrolyte batteries, the company is a key component of the French and European strategy to relocate the battery industry. The launch ceremony marks the start of work on a project estimated to cost €5.2 billion.
A strategic project for the European battery industry
Located in the Dunkirk industrial port zone, the future gigafactory is expected to employ up to 3,000 people and produce batteries for the electric car industry. According to data provided by ProLogium and reported by several media outlets, the target capacity would correspond to the equipping of 40,000 to 50,000 electric vehicles per year in the initial phase.
Industrial production is expected to start in 2028 (with a capacity of 0.8 GWh). Full operational capacity of 4 GWh is not expected until 2030, and the stated target of 12 GWh not before 2032. This delay in relation to the initial timetable is explained by the Group’s desire to produce the latest generation of batteries (Gen4).
Gen4 solid state batteries: technology at the heart of the project
The Dunkirk Gigafactory is located in a region that is already highly industrialised in terms of battery production. In fact, in this part of France known as the Battery Valley, three gigafactories have been operating for some time: ACC (a joint venture between Stellantis, Mercedes-Benz and TotalEnergies), AESC (a Japanese company owned by the Chinese Envision group) and the French start-up Verkor.
The difference with these « competitors » is that the ProLogium plant will produce so-called « solid » batteries, a technology considered to be one of the main areas of development in energy storage for electric vehicles. The Taiwanese company plans to manufacture its fourth-generation cells (Gen4) there, based on a solid electrolyte. The separator is made of ceramic rather than polymer, making the battery more resistant to shocks and less prone to fire.
This technology promises significant gains in terms of energy density, safety and durability compared with conventional liquid electrolyte lithium-ion batteries. The stakes are obviously high: large-scale industrialisation of this technology, which is still not widely available on the market but is eagerly awaited by carmakers.
A political and industrial ceremony
For a project of this scale, the launch took place in the presence of a number of government and local authority representatives. Roland Lescure, Minister Delegate for Industry and Energy, and Sébastien Martin, Minister Delegate for Industry, travelled to Dunkirk for the event.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who was visiting the ArcelorMittal site in Dunkirk on the same day, also spoke. From a distance, he hailed a « tremendous step forward », which he saw as a symbol of French industry « in the process of taking off again ». An explicit message, especially as the reindustrialisation of the country is one of the government’s main objectives in a context of strong international competition in the battery value chain.
It should be noted that the French government is financing no less than €1.5 billion of the total investment of €5.2 billion.
A local presence and a desire to expand
As explained above, the choice of Dunkirk is not an insignificant one. It is part of a clear industrial rationale: access to port infrastructures, decarbonised energy and integration into an ecosystem already strongly focused on the energy transition and heavy industry.
For ProLogium, this French site is its first large-scale industrial facility in Europe. The Group’s aim is to build closer links with European carmakers, while at the same time joining the growing number of gigafactories in France and neighbouring European countries.
A new stage for electromobility in France
With the actual launch of the construction site, the ProLogium project enters a concrete phase, after several years of preparation. The future Dunkirk Gigafactory will strengthen France’s position as one of the major centres for battery production in Europe, alongside other projects already under way in the Hauts-de-France and Grand Est regions.
The next few months will be devoted to construction work and setting up the production lines, before the first phases of development, which should begin within the next two years.
