GM Lands U.S. Ventilator Contract Worth Almost $500 Million
- Ventec designed a scaled-down breathing device to speed output
- More than 1,300 have applied for jobs at converted GM facility
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The U.S. awarded General Motors Co. and its partner Ventec Life Systems a $489.4 million contract to make 30,000 ventilators by the end of August, finalizing a deal that briefly was a point of contention for President Donald Trump.
Production will start next week, a GM spokesman said Wednesday, and the carmaker and Ventec will deliver a fifth of the breathing machines they’re building for the Health and Human Services Department by June 1. The U.S. invoked the Defense Production Act to secure production from the companies after Trump accused GM of moving too slowly and gouging the government. He’s praised the carmaker since then.