Akyumen Industries Corp., a cellular device manufacturer and data content provider, will build a 150,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Gary, Indiana. The project is expected to create 500 to 2,000 jobs.

This facility, located at the site of the former 27-acre Ivanhoe Gardens, a housing project that closed in 1965, will serve as Akyumen's U.S. headquarters and plant for making a new generation of 5G phones, tablets, phablets and other transformative mobile devices. Design and construction is planned to begin prior to the end of the first quarter, 2021.

Aasim Saied, Chairman and CEO of Akyumen, added, “this project will bring hundreds of jobs to the Gary community and help transform the image and narrative for positive change. We are excited to be the first company to make 5G phones and other such devices in America, and we are pleased to be working with the City’s leadership to help restore the generational pride and economic prosperity the community deserves.

“Together, Akyumen and the City of Gary will have a positive impact once we begin our manufacturing operations,” said Saied. "I thank you all. I'm looking forward to the future with all of you. I invite the people of Gary, I invite the people of the state of Indiana and I invite the entire United States of America to participate here.”

According to city officials, under the agreement the Gary Redevelopment Commission will transfer ownership of the Ivanhoe Garden Housing Development site to Akyumen as well as the city-owned Genesis Convention Center.

“Gary is proud to begin this new partnership with Akyumen, and we believe that the community will benefit from the new jobs and a new corporate headquarters,” said Mayor Jerome A. Prince. “I'm excited Gary and Akyumen are teaming up to build a better future.”