Fortescue to Cut Jobs, Shifts Green Tech Production to China
Udumbara
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Mining billionaire Andrew Forrest’s green technology arm, Fortescue Zero, will cut hundreds of jobs across its operations, including in Australia, as it abandons plans to build new trucking powertrains in Britain and shifts production to China.
The company confirmed the redundancies saying the decision forms part of a wider overhaul that will see Fortescue Zero wind back its manufacturing ambitions and concentrate instead on research and development.
Fortescue Zero employs about 1,000 staff in the United Kingdom and around 100 in Australia, with the majority of the cuts expected to fall on its UK operations.
The company had purchased Williams Advanced Engineering, an offshoot of the Formula One team, for $336 million in 2022 and rebadged it under the Fortescue Zero brand.
Shift From Manufacturing to R&D
Fortescue said it would now shelve its in-house manufacturing plans for green technology equipment, citing the rapid expansion of global market capability and the need to stay agile in a fast-evolving industry.“As we anticipated, technologies have advanced rapidly, market capability has grown, and others are now ready to match our ambition,” Gus Pichot, Fortescue’s CEO for growth and energy said in a statement shared with The Epoch Times.
Pichot said Fortescue Zero would remain central to the company’s innovation and engineering work but acknowledged the move would affect jobs.
“Regrettably, the changes are likely to impact some of our workforce, with the majority of those potentially affected in the United Kingdom,” he said. “This is never an easy decision, and Fortescue is dedicated to guiding the transition with compassion, respect, and support.”
Fortescue Banks on Chinese Green Pivot
Fortescue’s decision to move production to China marks a significant shift in its clean-energy strategy, driven largely by cost pressures and the attractiveness of Chinese manufacturing.A company spokesperson confirmed Fortescue could “no longer justify the cost of manufacturing in the United Kingdom” and would instead source powertrains—including batteries, motors, and electronic systems—for its electric mining trucks from China.
“China now offers scale, speed, and cost efficiencies that can’t be matched elsewhere,” the spokesperson told The Epoch Times.
The announcement follows Fortescue’s recent partnership with Chinese multinational Envision Energy, unveiled during the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Sept. 26 (AEST).
Fortescue said Envision will work together on wind turbines, energy storage, and digital energy management as the company advances toward its net-zero 2030 target.
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