SEOUL, Aug 28 (Reuters) - South Korea's Samsung SDI

said on Wednesday it has completed an agreement with

General Motors ( GM ) to build a joint electric vehicle (EV)

battery factory in the U.S. state of Indiana.

The two companies will invest approximately $3.5 billion to

build a new battery cell manufacturing plant with an annual

production capacity of 27 gigawatt hours (GWh) initially,

Samsung SDI said in a statement.

The South Korean battery maker said the joint plant aims

for mass production in 2027 and annual capacity is expected to

rise to 36 GWh under expansion plans.

($1 = 1,326.0000 won)