Oct 14 (Reuters) - Japan's TOYO Co. Ltd ( TOYO ) on

Monday said it will build a 2 gigawatt solar cell factory in

Ethiopia that will provide duty-free components to a panel

factory it is planning in the United States.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

TOYO's investment in Hawassa, Ethiopia, comes amid growing

concerns over new U.S. tariffs on solar panels from four

Southeast Asian countries. TOYO currently produces its solar

products in Vietnam, one of the nations subject to the duties.

KEY QUOTE

"We are thrilled to embark on this ambitious project, which

will enable us to rapidly scale up solar cell production to meet

the needs of our planned module facility in the United States,"

Junsei Ryu, CEO of TOYO, said in a statement.

CONTEXT

U.S. trade officials this month set preliminary tariffs on

solar cells and panels from Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and

Cambodia. Manufacturers in those countries, U.S. solar producers

argue, receive generous subsidies that threaten President Joe

Biden's goal to boost domestic manufacturing of clean energy

technologies.

TOYO's new facility will be strategically situated in

Ethiopia, which is exempt from a U.S. tariff on popular

double-sided panels. The company said last month that it was in

the final stages of negotiations to build a 2 GW panel factory

in the United States.

BY THE NUMBERS

The estimated investment for the project is $60 million, and

the new facility is expected to generate up to 880 jobs. The

factory is anticipated to start production by the end of the

first quarter of 2025.