Australian titanium alloy maker expands to US with $55 million plant set for Cleveland

May 24, 2023

An Australian manufacturer of metals and alloys is expanding into the United States with plans for a $54.9 million manufacturing-and-research facility to produce titanium alloys in Cleveland, Tennessee.

Amaero International Limited, a 10-year-old publicly traded company focused on becoming a global leader in titanium and specialty power production, announced Friday it will locate its flagship titanium powder manufacturing plant in the Spring Branch Industrial Park.

Once complete, the 130,000-square-foot facility just off Interstate 75 will serve as Amaero's hub for its titanium alloy powder production, advanced manufacturing and research and development. The new facility is projected to eventually employ at least 105 workers and will serve as the company's global headquarters.

In an announcement Friday, the company said it picked the Tennessee site over a competing location in United Arab Emirates due, in part, to economic incentives offered by federal, state and local governments as well as cheaper electricity available from the Tennessee Valley Authority than what would be available in either Australia or the UAE.

"Amaero is appreciative of the many stakeholders in Tennessee who quickly mobilized to proactively develop and present a compelling business case for the re-location of Amaero's flagship titanium powder production operations, research and development efforts and its corporate headquarters to Tennessee," Hank Holland, chairman and CEO of Amaero International Limited, said in a statement Friday. "Amaero will build upon the U.S.' resurgent manufacturing sector and the strong regional manufacturing ecosystem with a critical and strategic industrial capability that addresses the country's highest priority initiatives in advanced and additive manufacturing, as well as enhancing supply chain resiliency for critical minerals and defense production."

Amaero's customers include aerospace and defense prime contractors, as well as medical and industrial companies.

Amaero International Limited was founded in 2013, in Victoria, Australia, and has closely collaborated with research institutions such as Monash University, Monash Centre Additive Manufacturing and Australia's national science agency, CSIRO. The company's commercialization efforts have focused on metal 3D printing of complex components for the aerospace and defense, space, medical and other industrial businesses.

The company said in its announcement that locating in Tennessee "will give Amaero more business development flexibility from an export control and technology transfer perspective" and put the company in "close proximity to our primary customers, to research and development partners, to the supply chain, to highly skilled employees and to robust capital markets."

Amaero also may work with the materials research facilities at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory just up the road near Knoxville.

"It could be an exciting collaborative research effort both for ORNL and for this company," said Doug Berry, vice president of economic development at the Cleveland/Bradley County Chamber of Commerce.

Berry said having a nearly completed 100,000-square-foot office and warehouse ready at the Spring Branch Industrial Park helped land the new investment by taking nearly a year off the expected development schedule for any similar project in the UAE or other markets.

Knoxville developers Bob and Cross McCallie built the facility, which will now be expanded with another 30,000-square-foot high-bay area for the actual titanium alloy production. Amaero has signed a 15-year lease with an option to buy to be the sole tenant in the structure at the 330-acre Spring Branch Industrial Park.

The shell of the structure is scheduled to be completed next month, and a high-bay extension will be designed and built for the installation of four electrode inert gas atomisers, according to Amaero's announcement Friday.

"This is a seminal event for Amaero and a great development for Amaero's shareholders, our employees and our customers," Holland said in a statement.

Stuart McWhorter, Tennessee's commissioner for economic and community development, said Amaero will be among 30 Australian-based companies with Tennessee operations, "and we are proud to add another great global brand like Amaero to that growing roster.

"Cleveland, Tennessee is the ideal location for this company's first U.S. facility and has the workforce, infrastructure and business environment to ensure Amaero's success," McWhorter said in a statement Friday.

Contact Dave Flessner at [email protected] or 423-757-6340.