Ford Motor Company, JPMorgan Chase, the State of Michigan, Michigan Central and Newlab announced Michigan LIFT on September 29. The initiative is intended to help suppliers establish or expand production in Michigan by connecting manufacturing customers, potential financing, state resources and support for bringing technologies into production.
Over the next decade, Ford Motor Company aspires to award up to $1 billion in business to participating suppliers, while JPMorgan Chase aspires to provide up to $1 billion in debt capital. These are separate ambitions for orders and lending, not a combined cash investment. The releases make both subject to the participants’ normal qualification, sourcing and approval processes; they do not report those amounts as contracts already awarded or loans already advanced.
Manufacturers will identify supply-chain problems through open calls. Eligible suppliers will be referred to the relevant buyer for evaluation, with financing and other support coordinated for opportunities that move forward. Initial areas include robotics, energy, semiconductors, batteries, mobility, aerospace, critical minerals and life-sciences manufacturing. Industrial buyers can be based outside Michigan; the production-expansion focus is Michigan.
Newlab aspires to provide $20 million in in-kind support, rather than a cash grant. Michigan Central will provide a Detroit testing and scaling environment, while the Michigan Economic Development Corporation will provide state economic-development resources. The launch establishes a route for matching customers and financing with suppliers; the announcements do not establish the eventual number of successful projects, jobs or dollars deployed.