Major Developments Planned in the Triangle

The Triangle region of North Carolina has experienced a series of remarkable economic achievements. Numerous companies, both new and expanding, are making substantial investments in the area, increasing their footprint and generating job opportunities. Over the past 24 to 36 months, an estimated $10.7 billion in investments and the creation of over 14,600 jobs have been announced. Some of the most notable examples include:

Chatham County

Name: Wolfspeed, Inc.
City: Siler City
Announced: Q3 2022
Planned Investment: $5 Billion over the next 8 years
Planned Jobs: 1,800 by 2030
Details: Wolfspeed, Inc., a leading manufacturer of Silicon Carbide semiconductors, is currently constructing a manufacturing campus at the Chatham-Siler City Advanced Manufacturing Site. Its expansion will produce the Silicon Carbide materials to make semiconductor chips and devices that more efficiently power electric vehicle inverters and charging systems. Production could start by the end of 2024, with the plant on schedule to begin delivering wafers to the Mohawk Valley site in the middle of 2025.

Name: Vinfast
City: Moncure
Announced: Q1 2022
Planned Investment: $2 Billion for Phase 1
Planned Jobs: 7,500
Details: VinFast, a Vietnamese auto manufacturer, selected North Carolina to construct its first North American automotive assembly and battery manufacturing plant – specifically the 1,977-acre Triangle Innovation Point megasite.  VinFast committed in 2022 to a $4 billion investment, creating an estimated 7,500 jobs. In July 2024, VinFast announced its decision to delay construction until 2028. It’s been widely reported that VinFast, which is part of the VinGroup conglomerate, has been losing hundreds of millions of dollars quarterly, due to poor vehicle reviews and an overall slowdown in the growth of EV sales.

Durham County

Name: Advanced Medicine Partners (Jaguar Gene Therapy)
City: Durham
Announced: Q4 2021 / Q1 2024
Planned Investment: $125 Million
Planned Jobs: 200
Details: Jaguar Gene Therapy, LLC, an Illinois-based gene therapy company, announced its plans to add a GMP facility to Research Triangle Park to support future clinical and commercial production of its initial programs, including: galactosemia; a specific genetic cause of autism; and Type 1 diabetes. However, in January 2024, Advanced Medicine Partners formed in January around assets spun out Jaguar Gene Therapy in order to manage its chemistry, manufacturing and controls (CMC) capabilities. It will now own and operate the new facility, which is currently under construction. It is anticipated be fully operational to support clinical GMP in early 2025, pushed back from its original 2023 date.

Lee County

Name: Kyowa Kirin
City: Sanford
Planned Investment: $530 Million, more than double its previous announcement of $200 Million
Planned Jobs: 102
Details: Kyowa Kirin, a Japan-based global specialty pharmaceutical company, will establish a biologics manufacturing Center of Excellence, its first pharmaceutical manufacturing operation in North America. The company submitted designs for its new facility in May 2024 and completed its purchase of roughly 75 acres in Helix Innovation Park at the Brickyard in June 2024. Plans are for the site to be operational by early 2027.

Orange County

Name: Morinaga America Foods Inc.
City: Mebane
Announced: Q3 2024
Planned Investment: $136 Million
Planned Jobs: 204
Details: Morinaga America Foods, Inc., a subsidiary of the Japanese confectionary company Morinaga & Co., Ltd., will expand its current Mebane plant due to the increased demand for its HI-CHEW candy, which the Mebane site produces. Construction is scheduled to start in October 2024, with the facility becoming operational in early 2027.

Wake County

Name: Amgen, Inc.
City: Holly Springs
Announced: Q3 2021
Planned Investment: $550 Million
Planned Jobs: 355
Details: Amgen Inc., a pioneering biotechnology company, is building a new biologics manufacturing operation to help the company continue to meet the production demands for its life-saving medicines. The project broke ground in March 2022 and plans to open in 2025. It began increasing its hiring efforts in 2023 and 2024, as it gets closer to the site becoming operational.

Name: FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies USA Inc.
City: Holly Springs
Announced: Q1 2021 / Q2 2024
Planned Investment: $3.2 Billion
Planned Jobs: 1,400+
Details: FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, a world leading biologics contract development and manufacturing organization has operated a multi-product facility in Morrisville, NC since 2003. In 2021, the company announced its plans to construct one of North America’s largest end-to-end biopharmaceutical manufacturing facilities in Holly Springs, an estimated investment of $2 billion, creating 725 new jobs. Earlier this year Fujifilm Diosynth announced an even further expansion, with plans to invest an additional $1.2 billion into the Holly Springs project, creating another 680 jobs. The facility is expected to be operational in 2025.

Name: Forge Nano, Inc.
City: Morrisville
Announced: Q4 2023
Planned Investment: $165 Million
Planned Jobs: 200+
Details: Forge Nano, Inc., a leading materials science company that enables peak performance products through atomic-level surface engineering, will construct a lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant for its new lithium-ion battery business called Forge Battery. Hiring has already begun, with the plan being to hire consistently over the next two years leading up to the plant starting production. A groundbreaking for the new facility is expected later in 2024, with plans for the campus to be up and running in 2026.