North Carolina 2024 Economic Development Guide

The Old North State is No. 1 for business for the second year in a row. The state’s unique approach to economic development ensures that everything businesses need to succeed, from renewable energy to workforce, is available.

10 REASONS TO BE IN N.C.

1. A BUSINESS FRIENDLY TAX ENVIRONMENT

North Carolina’s 2.5% corporate income tax rate is the lowest among the 44 states that levy this tax. Starting in 2025, the rate will drop to 2.25% and decrease gradually until it reaches 0% in 2030.

2. NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED BUSINESS CLIMATE

North Carolina was recently recognized for the second year in a row as CNBC’s #1 Top State for Business in the annual ranking, which is an exhaustive study of business climate and economy, workforce, education, and lifestyle measures. is recognition is in addition to the state winning Area Development’s 2023 Platinum Shovel award, Business Facilities magazine’s State of the Year in 2022, and Site Selection magazine’s Top State Business Climate in 2021.

3. FAST-GROWING POPULATION AND TALENT POOL

North Carolina has one of the fastest-growing populations in the country. Last year, the state grew at a rate three times higher than the US average. is tremendous growth feeds directly into North Carolina’s robust talent pipeline. North Carolina residents have access to top-tier training from 52 colleges and universities statewide. North Carolina’s network of 58 community colleges is the third largest in the US. e North Carolina Community College System is also renowned for its highly personalized customized workforce training model. In 2021-2022 alone, nearly 23,000 North Carolina workers received intensive job-speci c customized training through NCCCS in partnership with over 770 new and existing companies.

4. AFFORDABLE BUSINESS OPERATING COSTS

North Carolina’s cost-e ective business environment is clear across several measures. e state’s construction costs are 14% below the national average, and industrial electricity rates are 22.6% lower than the national average. Overall, the cost of living in North Carolina is 11% lower than the national average cost of living. According to the 2021 Location Matters Report published annually by KPMG, North Carolina ranked #3 for lowest e ective tax rates for new rms and #5 for lowest e ective tax rates for mature rms.

5. LOCATION AND LOGISTICS TO REACH MILLIONS

North Carolina’s central East Coast location and superb road transportation network provide access to more than 150 million customers within a day’s drive. e state’s two deep water seaports and two Class 1 rail carriers enable companies to reach millions of domestic and international customers. North Carolina boasts several regional airports in addition to four international airports. Among these, Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) is the world’s h-busiest

international airport as of 2022, and the very well-connected RaleighDurham International Airport (RDU) was ranked third in passenger satisfaction among large North American airports for the year 2022.

6. LEADERSHIP IN RESEARCH AND INNOVATION

Fi y-two colleges and universities comprise North Carolina’s higher education system. Per the Carnegie Classi cations of Institutions of Higher Education, North Carolina is also home to three Tier 1 research universities: Duke University, the University of North Carolina, and North Carolina State University. e state also is home to several research parks, including North America’s largest — Research Triangle Park — which hosts more than 300 of the world’s most innovative companies employing more than 55,000 people.

7. QUALITY OF LIFE

North Carolina’s low cost of living and family-friendly reputation make it an ideal place to call home. Residents enjoy a moderate climate yearround and unique access to a variety of stunning natural landscapes, anked by the Great Smoky Mountains and Blue Ridge Mountains to the west and 300 miles of pristine coastline to the east.

8. STRONG MANUFACTURING AND GROWING TECHNICAL WORKFORCE

With more than 470,000 employees, North Carolina has the largest manufacturing workforce in the Southeast. is number continues to grow as the state has averaged a 7% increase in manufacturing jobs over the past 10 years. North Carolina also boasts the third most jobs in the IT and analytical instruments sector in the Southeastern US and ranks among the top ten states in the nation for total employment in this sector. Over 169,000 IT workers alone are employed in North Carolina.

9. PERFORMANCE-BASED, TARGETED INCENTIVES

North Carolina o ers eligible companies state and local incentives that lower their costs and increase their global competitiveness, including performance-based grants tied to job creation. In recent years, legislators have signi cantly expanded grants for projects that create large-scale employment and investment.

10. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE

e Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina helps companies of all sizes identify sites, navigate economic development incentives, nd workforce solutions, and more. If you are interested in learning more about relocating or growing your business in North Carolina, please visit edpnc.com.

PROJECT E DITOR

Katherine Snow Smith

PROJECT ART DIRECTOR

Peggy Knaack

PROJECT GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Cathy Swaney

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Pete Anderson, Dan Barkin, Kathy Blake, Lawrence Bivins, David Mildenberg, Katherine Snow Smith

PUBLISHER

Ben Kinney

EDITOR

David Mildenberg

MANAGING EDITOR

Kevin Ellis

EXECUTIVE EDITOR, DIGITAL

Chris Roush

ASSOCIATE EDITORS

Ray Gronberg, Cathy Martin

SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Edward Martin

SPECIAL PROJECTS EDITOR

Katherine Snow Smith

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Peggy Knaack

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Cathy Swaney

MARKETING COORDINATOR

Jennifer Ware

ACCOUNT DIRECTOR

Melanie Weaver Lynch

ACCOUNT MANAGER / AUDIENCE

DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST

Scott Leonard

1230 W. Morehead Street, Suite 308

Charlotte, NC 28208

Telephone: 704-523-6987

All contents copyright ©2023

Old North State Magazines LLC

PRESIDENT David Worono

NORTH CAROLINA HAS PLENTY OF ADVANTAGES

As companies from across the country and globe continue to choose North Carolina, existing businesses are also upping their investments in Tar Heel facilities. In the past year, Wolfspeed has decided to spend $5 billion to build the world’s largest silicon carbide factory in Chatham County. Siemens Mobility is spending $220 million on a passenger railcar plant in Davidson County. And since announcing initial plans in 2021 to spend $1.3 billion on an electric battery plant in Liberty near High Point, Toyota has increased its expected investment to $5.9 billion. The state is a standout because of its talent pool, workforce education, infrastructure, relocation incentives, quality of life and access — by rail, road, air and water. These are among the attributes that led CNBC to dub North Carolina “America’s Top State For Business” for the second consecutive year in 2023.

I gained an even better understanding of my native state’s business climate over the past year as Business North Carolina’s special projects editor. Part of my job focuses on monthly round tables, which assemble leaders in different economic sectors to discuss trends, advances and challenges. Topics in 2023 included biotechnology, education, agriculture, commercial real estate, manufacturing and sustainability.

While the experiences of participants vary each month, there are similar takeaways. The state’s colleges came up at almost every round table. For example, NC A&T State University in Greensboro is partnering with Wolfspeed, which is building a new research and development facility on the university’s campus. Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College offered custom fast-track training for Pratt & Whitney’s new turbine airfoil manufacturing plant in Asheville.

North Carolina is far from immune to the nationwide labor shortage, but several round table discussions highlighted ways employers are reaching different talent pools. Caterpillar, which operates in Wake, Lee and Johnston counties, is offering specialized training to neurodiverse employees. Ketchie in Concord has a high school internship for its machine shop. Other common concerns include interest rates and the effects of remote work on city centers. But no matter the round table topic, participants agreed North Carolina is well positioned to weather challenges as the third-fastest growing state, always scoring high in rankings of places to live, retire or vacation. One round table participant called us “a much luckier place.” The following pages explain why.

— Katherine Snow Smith

COOPERATOR IN CHIEF

N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper is concluding his second term as North Carolina’s 75th governor, with term limits precluding another run.

Cooper has championed economic development during his tenure, participating in key decisions that have helped attract the largest new-project investments in state history. It has been a challenging political environment for the Democratic governor because Republicans dominate the N.C. General Assembly. The GOP has held veto-proof supermajorities in the legislature during part of his two terms.

A signature of Cooper’s governorship includes negotiating and signing energy legislation that requires N.C. utilities to reduce power-generation carbon emissions 70% by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

The governor grew up in Nash County, where his father was a farmer and attorney, and his mother taught school. Cooper spent summers working on the family’s farm and received his undergraduate and law degrees from UNC Chapel Hill. He practiced law, served in the General Assembly and was N.C. Attorney General for four terms before winning the governor’s election in 2016. He and his wife, Kristin, have three grown daughters.

He talked with Katherine Snow Smith about the state’s economic development success and how challenges are addressed. has

Capitol building, Raleigh

WHAT ARE KEY FACTORS THAT HAVE ENABLED N.C. TO LAND MULTIBILLION DOLLAR INVESTMENTS INCLUDING TOYOTA, VINFAST, ELI LILLY AND WOLFSPEED AND BOOM? WHAT IS NEEDED TO KEEP THIS MOMENTUM GOING?

A few months ago, coach Roy Williams and coach Mike Kryzewski jointly announced (via remote shoots on CNBC) that for the second year in a row, North Carolina had won the best state for business in the country. Those two coaches are successful because they generally have the best players. North Carolina is successful because we have the best workforce. The credit for this goes to the people of our state. They are the best trained, educated, diverse workforce in the country and companies know that. I think the reason for our success is because for decades, North Carolina has invested in our people. We have the best community college system in the country. We have the greatest array of private and public universities in the country. In talking to CEO after CEO, the most important issue they are facing right now is workforce and right behind that is infrastructure, and we have been able to supply both. Also our collaboration among local state and federal officials has been extraordinary. We’ve been targeting several areas that have seen significant success. Clean energy is one. Getting ahead of that curve that is coming, the private market is moving to clean energy and we want to be at the front end of that wave and I think we’ve done that. We’ve also centered on biotechnology, life sciences, aerospace and advanced manufacturing. We have the largest manufacturing workforce in the Southeast. Because of the education institutions that we have, they are highly skilled and adaptable.

WE ARE KNOWN FOR A HIGHLY TRAINED AND DIVERSE WORKFORCE, BUT THERE’S STILL A LABOR SHORTAGE NATIONWIDE AS WELL AS IN OUR STATE. HOW IS THIS BEING ADDRESSED? HOW DO YOU CONVINCE NEW AND EXISTING COMPANIES THAT THE STATE CAN ADDRESS THEIR WORKFORCE NEEDS?

A lot of people ask me what keeps me up at night. This is one of those things. We are attracting jobs at such a fast pace that I want to make sure we have enough skilled workforce to meet our growing needs. We’re the third-fastest growing state. Matching

those North Carolinians to great jobs, whether it’s manufacturing or tourism or anywhere else, is the job of people who are working in our Department of Commerce through workforce solutions and workforce development and our community colleges.

We have a First in Talent plan in our Department of Commerce that lays out how we can continue to be a successful place for companies to find these great workers and match them with fantastic jobs. We have made workforce training a priority pairing industry with the community colleges and making sure we are flexible because the nature of these jobs is changing so fast. People who have been doing something for a long time are having to get new skills to be able to take new jobs. It is very different. We prize our diversity in our workforce. We are fortunate to have the highest concentration of four-year Historically Black Colleges and Universities of any state in the country. North Carolina A & T State University graduates more Black engineers than any other school in the nation. We’ve expanded our opportunities for more debt-free community college with more Longleaf Commitment Grants that I’ve proposed to the legislature that they’ve taken us up on. I think CEOs know when they come to North Carolina they will be able to find A-class employees.

Gov. Roy Cooper participated in the groundbreaking of the VinFast Auto plant in Chatham County. Production is expected to start in 2025, with several thousand jobs expected.

NORTH CAROLINA IS CONTINUALLY PRAISED FOR COLLABORATION BETWEEN LOCAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS TO GIVE INCENTIVES TO BUSINESSES AS WELL AS CREATE TRAINING PROGRAMS AND PIECE TOGETHER CRUCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE UPGRADES. WHY IS NORTH CAROLINA BETTER POSITIONED TO COLLABORATE THAN OTHER STATES?

It’s well publicized about the di erences I have had with the Republican legislature. ose di erences get most of the attention. But the real story is how we have worked together in a bipartisan way. is legislature has given me and my administration broad authority on performance-based incentives and recruiting strategy that they did not trust with my predecessor. ey have recognized the governor is the chief economic recruiter, and we’ve worked together on economic development pretty smoothly.

We have had across the board agreement on our strategy. We keep (legislators) clued in to the work we are doing to attract companies. Sometimes we all sit at the table together with the governor and Republican and Democratic legislators and that’s powerful when CEOs see that cooperation. I believe our economic recruiters and local o cials are extraordinary and they have appreciated the collaboration of the state leaders. On top of that we have excellent partnership with organizations like the Golden Leaf Foundation, which regularly support our infrastructure needs. You couple that with the generational investments we’ve been making and with all of the legislation that the Biden-Harris administration has been able to get passed for infrastructure, water, waste water, childcare, roads, bridges, ports, high-speed internet access. Also, all of the incentives to move into the clean energy arena where we already were, that’s pretty extraordinary. CEOs here recruit for us. ey know we don’t disappear when the ribbon is cut. ey see us continue to collaborate with them as their business grows and that reputation is important. We convinced Honeywell to move its corporate headquarters to Charlotte, and their CEO has been an evangelist of sorts for North Carolina for lack of a better word. Companies will talk with other companies.

WE KNOW THERE’S A DIRE SHORTAGE OF WORKFORCE HOUSING ACROSS THE COUNTRY AND NORTH CAROLINA AS WELL. WHAT CAN BE DONE TO ADDRESS THIS PROBLEM IN AN URGENT

MANNER?

It’s one of the most challenging issues we face in North Carolina, and we have not made as much progress on this as I would like. But we know this is something across the country that people are facing. Success causes high housing prices. We need places for people to live so that they can work. High-speed internet access is going to help with this because we are having more and more remote work. People are living in our more rural areas, they can go to our urban centers maybe twice a week, and they can a ord to live a little farther away. e local governments are working hard with the federal government. But in North Carolina there is not a separate housing department. We really have not played a large role on the state level for housing. I’ve wanted to up that game for our state. My current budget proposal provides for signi cant funding to N.C. Housing Trust Fund (funds leverage private funding to create a variety of housing solutions) and the Workforce Housing Loan Program.

I don’t know what the General Assembly is going to do. ey have not been that interested in investing state money in housing. I think that is something we need to do better. e legislature needs to understand that those investments are important to economic development because the workforce needs places to live. Cities in particular are seeing this acutely right now because you need places for teachers, police o cers and tourism workers and it makes it harder and harder for them to be able to come in and do their jobs. is is something I think we have to pay more attention to.

ADVOCATING FOR HIGHER PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER PAY HAS BEEN A HALLMARK OF YOUR TENURE AS GOVERNOR. HOW IMPORTANT IS IMPROVING NORTH CAROLINA’S K-12 SYSTEM IN TERMS OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND MAKING THE STATE ATTRACTIVE TO EXISTING AND INCOMING BUSINESSES?

I think it’s not just K-12. It’s cradle to career. We must make investments from early childhood quality child care all the way through to our community colleges and universities and even adult training. I hear from CEOs: “Your taxes are low enough. at’s not the problem. What we need is a diverse, highly skilled workforce.”

It’s one of the reasons why businesses are now lobbying the legislature for more support for early childhood education and quality childcare. ose investments I call the “triple play.” One, you get early childhood education for the child to make them more successful in school and in life. Two, it allows

the parent to go to work, and three, it allows the business to hire that parent. But, investments through K-12 are critical. We have 5,000 teacher vacancies right now. We don’t have enough bus drivers. We need to make signi cant investments to keep our teachers. I am deeply concerned that over the last few years that this negligence in not investing enough in our public schools can hurt us in the long run. I’ve had a number of bipartisan discussions with people, and one thing across the board that we can agree on is that public education can be great if we simply have a great teacher in every classroom and a great principal in every school. at means you have to recruit them to keep them and pay them and respect them. Right now I’m deeply concerned about our public schools particularly with the billions of dollars (Republicans) want to go into private school vouchers, which will hurt public schools and will not improve education. So, we’ve got a lot of work to do in that arena if we want to continue to be the No. 1 state for business out into the future because we have benefited from investments that have been made in N.C. education for decades, and we have to keep that up.

UNC Chapel Hill, and other campuses across the state, will play an important role in the economy going forward.

HARNESSING WIND, SUN AND TECHNOLOGY

North Carolina, an established leader in renewable batteries, solar power and offshore wind energy, continues to create new energy resources and thousands of new jobs.

By Lawrence Bivins

Diversi cation has long been a hallmark of North Carolina’s economic development strategy. Emerging industries such as life sciences, data analytics and composite-based aerospace manufacturing grow alongside 21st century incarnations of the more traditional business sectors such as banking, agribusiness and distribution. Quietly taking a position next to all of them is one industry that has local and state leaders especially excited: alternative energy.

Lacking oil or gas under its soils, North Carolina has never been a player in the fossil fuel economy. But as global climate change and the need for greater energy resiliency take center stage, the state has a credible shot at being in the realm of clean energy and what Texas is to carbon-based fuels. With leadership in solar power, o shore wind and battery storage, the state stands to draw its share of energy-related businesses while sharpening the e ciency of its $731 billion economy.

“We have the assets and the ability to do this, and I’m really optimistic,” says Jennifer Mundt, assistant secretary for clean energy economic development at the N.C. Department of Commerce.

She envisions opportunity for each of the state’s 100 counties to participate, and bene t from the move to cleaner energies.

“With that comes great jobs that can provide amazing opportunities for people across our state with all levels of education,” says Mundt, who served as a policy adviser at the state’s Department of Environmental Quality prior to joining Commerce in 2022.

Policy action by state leaders in 2007 set the stage for clean energy competitiveness. at year, legislators passed the Renewable Energy and Energy E ciency Portfolio Standard, which nudged North Carolina’s investor-owned utilities to deploy renewable energy sources for 12.5% of their retail electricity sales by 2021.

e move, which included metering arrangements giving credits to customers who produced their own renewable power, was the rst of its kind for any Southeastern state. It quickly drew numerous solar energy companies, and the Tar Heel State soon ranked second in the nation in installed solar capacity behind only California.

A NEW PARTNERSHIP TO MINE LITHIUM IN KINGS MOUNTAIN

By David Mildenberg

Albemarle and Caterpillar signed an agreement in September 2023 to develop Albemarle’s lithium mine site in Kings Mountain.

e collaboration supports Charlotte-based Albemarle’s e orts to establish Kings Mountain as the rst-ever zeroemissions lithium mine site in North America. Caterpillar, based in Irving, Texas, will use Albemarle-produced lithium in its battery production.

e companies will collaborate on battery material supply and research, as well as the development and deployment of battery electric trucks and site energy transfer solutions.

“At Albemarle, we are committed to building a more resilient world,” says Albemarle’s Energy Storage President Eric Norris in a statement. “Our partners are critical to achieving that impact, and this collaboration with Caterpillar exhibits how we ‘walk the talk’ to pioneer what’s next. It’s a win-win-win scenario, in which we are both customers and suppliers of each other, and the innovation we pursue together bene ts the world.

“Beyond supplying infrastructure and materials, batterypowered Caterpillar machinery and potential improvements to cell technology will open up new possibilities for the future of sustainable mining,” added Norris.

Norris says Albemarle will replicate in Kings Mountain the progress the company made at its Salar de Atacama mine in Chile, where he says it met stringent mining standards veri ed by a third-party audit.

e partnership creates “a new pathway where we can make a global impact – outside of the leadership we’re known for with EVs,” says Anita Natesh, Albemarle’s commercial vice president for North America, Europe and India for Energy Storage.

e announcement comes on the heels of Albemarle’s recent award of $90 million from the Department of Defense, to help support the expansion of domestic mining and the production of lithium for the nation’s battery supply chain.

Albemarle estimates that the Kings Mountain mine will become operational as early as late 2026, pending permitting.

Charlotte-based Albemarle and Texas-based Caterpillar signed a partnership to mine for lithium in the Kings Mountain area pictured.

BIGGEST COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES

UNC Charlotte

Gardner-Webb University

Queens University

Central Piedmont Community College

Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, multiple campuses

Gaston College, multiple campuses

ATTRACTIONS

U.S. National Whitewater Center, Charlotte

Harvey B. Gantt Center for AfricanAmerican Arts & Culture, Charlotte

Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord

Carolina Panthers, NFL team, Charlotte

NASCAR Hall of Fame, Charlotte

Charlotte Hornets, NBA team

CHARLOTTE SNAPSHOT

COUNTIES:

Alexander

Anson

Cabarrus

Catawba

Cleveland Gaston

Iredell

Lincoln

Mecklenburg

Rowan

Stanly

Union

Charlotte FC, professional soccer club

Charlotte Knights, minor league

baseball team

Carowinds, Charlotte

Discovery Place, Charlotte

Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden, Belmont

Schiele Museum of Natural History and Planetarium, Gastonia

N.C. Transportation Museum, Spencer Lake Norman and Lake Wylie

INDUSTRIES

Business, financial services and fintech

Corporate headquarters

Aerospace and defense

Textiles

Energy

Automotive-parts manufacturing

City of Charlotte

WHERE THE SUN SHINES

Though Texas and Florida have caught up, North Carolina still enjoys the fourth position nationwide in solar capacity. Its strong focus on solar gives new meaning to the line in the state’s toast: “The summer land where the sun doth shine.”

Duke Energy Progress, a unit of Charlotte-based Duke Energy that serves customers in North Carolina and South Carolina, leads Southeastern utilities for both current and anticipated deployment of renewables, according to the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy’s most recent Solar Southeast Report. Duke has retired most of its coal-burning generation stations in North Carolina, and the utility has made a commitment to cut the carbon dioxide emissions from its electrical generation in half by 2030. It is aiming for net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050.

“We had the right policy framework in place at a time when the market economics made [solar]technology more affordable,” explains Steve Kalland, executive director of the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center at N.C. State University. “Since 2008, we’ve seen massive growth in solar. While that growth has slowed somewhat, we remain in the nation’s top five.”

Deployment has reached into the state’s agribusiness industry, with photovoltaic panels now being installed on poultry houses in rural communities. Photovoltaic panels convert thermal energy into electricity, while solar panels convert solar radiation into heat.

Some 200 solar installment companies now operate in the state, while national companies are based here. Pine Gate

Renewables’ headquarters is in Asheville, and Strata Clean Energy is based in Durham.

Federal subsidies available under the 2022 “CHIPS and Science Act” are leading key industries back to the U.S., including solar equipment manufacturers. Some of those opportunities will nd their way to North Carolina, says Kalland, whose 36-year-old organization is funded by the N.C. General Assembly, the N.C. State Engineering Foundation, and proceeds from research grants and program fees.

OFFSHORE WIND ALONG THE CAROLINA COAST

Ambitious plans for o shore wind power complement the state’s leadership in solar power. Mundt says North Carolina has a long list of advantages for wind-based energy operations and the supply-chain opportunities that come with them.

“North Carolina really rises above other states,” she says. Ample coastline with relatively shallow ocean depths boosts the state’s appeal as a backdrop for o shore wind turbines.

High-level leadership is also making an impact. A 2021 executive order by Gov. Roy Cooper commits North Carolina to producing 2.8 gigawatts of wind energy by 2030 and 8 gigawatts of o shore wind power by 2040. Executive Order 218 also established the North Carolina Task Force on O shore Wind Economic

Resource Strategies, known as “NC TOWERS.” Mundt’s team at Commerce provides staffing support for the 30-member task force, whose central objective is identifying a path forward for wind energy that harnesses the state’s myriad economic resources and transportation assets.

Offshore wind has multi-state significance for North Carolina and its neighbors. In 2017, Oregon-based Avangrid Renewables leased from the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management some 122,405 acres of water 27 miles off North Carolina’s Outer Banks for its “Kitty Hawk” wind energy project. The project aims to build 190 turbines, which would provide up to 3,500 megawatts – enough to serve electricity to 1 million homes. “The northern tranche of the project, about 40% of the total leased area, is the furthest along,” Mundt says. Its power will connect to Dominion Energy’s service network at the coastal community of Sandbridge, Virginia.

“Avangrid is evaluating landing locations for the second tranche,” Mundt says, noting it will connect to Duke Energy’s grid.

While a follow-on proposal for additional wind generation off the Outer Banks was recently nixed by the U.S. Defense Department over concerns that more turbines would complicate military flight paths, there are plans for an inland wind farm elsewhere in northeastern North Carolina. Apex Clean Energy is working with Google Sustainability, a division of the tech giant, to purchase the entire capacity of Timbermill Wind, a 45-turbine project expected to operate in Chowan County by late 2024.

Offshore wind alone will spark a $140 billion supply chain opportunity for the U.S. by 2035, according to a 2021 study by BVG Associates, a British consulting firm specializing in alternative energy. It would mean “tens of thousands of new jobs” in the U.S. by 2035, according to BVG, which was engaged by N.C. Commerce to help inform an economic development strategy based on offshore wind. BVG Associates’ nine-month study found that North Carolina stands to attract $100 billion in offshore wind-related investment and as many as 10,000 related jobs.

The supply chain dimension is especially attractive for North Carolina, which ranks fifth in the nation for manufacturing gross domestic product and first among East Coast states. “There are about 8,000 parts that have to be manufactured (for offshore wind) and the majority of those are smaller and do not need to be built at the coast,” Mundt says. North Carolina communities as far west as Murphy could participate in supply chain opportunities, she says.

Still, the largest beneficiaries of North Carolina’s offshore wind economy appear to be its central coastal communities.

A 200-acre patch of available land adjacent the deepwater port at Morehead City known as Radio Island is the subject of planning for a possible industrial site that would support the offshore wind supply chain.

The North Carolina Ports Authority, which owns the one-time site of military communications gear, is exploring upgrades to infrastructure and facilities to make Radio Island a multi-use asset for companies engaged in offshore wind and automotive production, another budding state industry.

Moreover, initial data collection is underway for two offshore wind projects 22 miles south of Bald Head Island in southeastern North Carolina. Cinergy, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, is collaborating with TotalEnergies Renewables USA, the Houston-based U.S. unit of the French energy giant Total Energies. The two entities are working together to create a pair of massive wind farms that would encompass 110,000 acres of water and produce enough electricity for 750,000 homes. The project could be complete by the early 2030s.

Working with Gov. Cooper, legislators have allocated $20 million to ready the property.

While discussions are in the early stages, environmental impact modeling includes scenarios for manufacturing, warehousing, new rail spurs and additional berthing space large enough to accommodate the staging of huge turbine blades. Sketches also include capacity for roll-on/roll- off, or “RORO,” piers typically used to facilitate the intermodal movement of motor vehicles.

SEEKING A FRONT-ROW SLOT AS THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY ELECTRIFIES

By Dan Barkin

It has been a year since Wake Technical Community College dedicated the $42 million Hendrick Center for Automotive Excellence in north Wake County. Since then, Wake Tech has tripled the number of students in its automotive systems technology program and added a new degree program in collision repair.

In March, the college received a $939,041 federal grant to help jump start the Hendrick Center’s electric vehicle training program. It was part of the $1.7 trillion spending bill signed by President Joe Biden in December.

e grant comes amid an obvious transformation of the economy from gas-powered cars and trucks to electric vehicles. Electric cars have gone from being something exotic to something that requires trained technicians to service. e electric economy is evolving in places like the northern Wake County campus and throughout North Carolina. If the shi to electrics goes fast, a lot of work needs to be done fast.

e federal government’s target is for half of all vehicles sold in 2030 to be battery electric, plug-in hybrids or fuel-cell electrics. Gov. Roy Cooper’s goal is to have 1.25 million zeroemission vehicles in North Carolina by 2030. At the start of this year, there were about 54,000 zero-emission vehicles, including 38,400 electrics, and 15,600 plug-in hybrids, according to state registration data. Hitting Cooper’s target will require big changes on car lots around the state.

But inventories are increasing as car manufacturers scramble to roll out EVs with more millennials hitting peak earning and family-formation years. Gen Z’s are right behind. Many folks may be driving their last gasoline car right now. at has everyone’s attention in car factories, dealerships, oil-change shops, convenience stores and state highway departments fueled by gas taxes.

North Carolina is emerging as a center of electric-vehicle technology. Toyota is building a $3.8 billion battery plant near Greensboro in a partnership with Panasonic. Siemens is creating charging stations for electric buses and other large vehicles in Wendell, in eastern Wake County. Kempower, a Finlandbased company, plans a fast-charger manufacturing facility in Durham.

North Carolina is also a key source of lithium, a metal that has been referred to as “the new white gold” because of its use in EV batteries, says Louis Martin-Vega, engineering dean at N.C. State University. “ at’s one of the reasons that Albemarle Corp. is building a research and technology park in Charlotte,” he says.

Albemarle also plans to reopen a Cleveland County mine with lithium deposits that has been closed since 1988. Likewise, Belmont-based Piedmont Lithium is seeking regulatory approval to operate a lithium mine and processing plant in Gaston County, 30 miles west of Charlotte.

“North Carolina’s on the leading edge of this,” MartinVega notes.

e path to a transformed economy is full of potholes, to be sure. In March, Vietnam-based VinFast said it was delaying the start of electric-vehicle production at its proposed plant in Chatham County to 2025, a year later than previously announced. In an email to Chatham County Economic Development, VinFast said “this is the result of administrative delays” and “we remain fully committed to the development of our rst U.S. production facility in North Carolina.”

e six-year-old company has said it expects to produce about 150,000 SUVs a year at the factory for North American customers, eventually employing as many as 7,500 people and entailing an investment of $4 billion.

TRIANGLE SNAPSHOT COUNTIES:

Chatham Durham Franklin Granville Harnett

BIGGEST COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES

N.C. State University, Raleigh

N.C. Central University, Durham

UNC Chapel Hill

Duke University, Durham

Wake Technical Community College, multiple campuses

Central Carolina Community College

Durham Technical Community College

ATTRACTIONS

North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh

PNC Arena, home of NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes and N.C. State basketball, Raleigh

State Farmers Market, Raleigh

North Carolina Courage, women’s professional soccer team, Cary

North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh

Durham Performing Arts Center

Durham Bulls Minor League Baseball, Durham

Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, Chapel Hill

Marbles Kids Museum, Raleigh

North Carolina Museum of History, Raleigh Museum of Life and Science, Durham

Koka Booth Amphitheater, Cary

INDUSTRIES

Biotechnology and pharmaceuticals

Information technology

Fintech

Clean technology

Higher education

State government

Downtown Raleigh

THE NEW “BATTERY BELT”

e anticipated operations of VinFast’s electric vehicle plant in Chatham County and Toyota’s EV battery facility near Greensboro has spurred project activity surrounding batteries and related components. In the Charlotte Region, Gaston and Cleveland counties have been a major source of lithium since the 1950s. In 2022, Livent Corp. completed an expansion at its 900-acre campus in Bessemer City.

Today, using raw materials imported from Argentina, the Philadelphia-based company manufactures lithium hydroxide for use in electric vehicle batteries. e expansion grew the Gaston County plant’s capacity by 50%.

“It’s a major facility,” says Donny Hicks, executive director of Gaston County Economic Development. e site, which has existed there under other owners since the 1950s, employs chemists, engineers, material handlers, processors and other technical personnel. “It’s a fairly high-skilled operation,” says Hicks, who has led the county’s economic development program since 1984.

Piedmont Lithium, a start-up lithium producer, is looking to launch major mining and processing operations in the

northern part of Gaston County that would supply EV battery makers. While e orts are now underway to study the environmental management needs of the project, its economic impact is already known: an additional $3.9 billion in state GDP, more than 1,000 new jobs and $45 million in annual state and local tax revenues, according to Malissa Gordon, vice president of government a airs for the company. “We look forward to supporting the state as a key player in the clean energy revolution through our project,” Gordon says.

Piedmont Lithium cites proximity to “America’s Battery Belt” as central to its strategy in North Carolina, and that includes connections to Toyota, VinFast and other clean transportation leaders in the state. Additional location factors also came into play.

“North Carolina has emerged as a critical hub for the U.S. electri cation industry, o ering the right resources, business climate and infrastructure needed for Piedmont Lithium to deliver crucial lithium resources to support U.S. energy security and America’s clean energy sector,” according to Gordon.

Charlotte is headquarters to Albemarle Corp., another top producer of lithium compounds. e $19-plus billion market

Lithium in Gaston County is contained in hardrock spodumene, which is mined and crushed and the lithium extracted and processed. Photos courtesy of Piedmont Lithium.

cap company operates a lithium processing facility in nearby Kings Mountain. In 2022, Albemarle unveiled plans for a 200-employee research and development center in Charlotte’s University City that will focus on bringing innovative products to the lithium battery market.

“All of this was going on before the Toyota EV battery deal,” says Hicks. “But it certainly can’t hurt to have a customer like that three hours away.”

HIGHER EDUCATION SUPPORT

Just as they do with other industries, North Carolina colleges and universities are supporting alternative energy technologies, companies and talent. “Higher education has taken very seriously the call for more trained engineers to work in the sector,” says N.C. State’s Kalland. “There’s a strong demand for technical expertise both in research and deployment.” His campus, for example, is now collaborating with UNC Charlotte on a $1 million planning grant from the National Science Foundation to consider clean energy technology needs.

The state’s community colleges and K-12 school systems are playing a key role in readying North Carolina’s workforce for production-level opportunities in alternative energies. At Central Carolina Community College, a new Renewable Energy Technology Pathway program draws high school juniors and seniors into a 40-credit hour curriculum that includes studies in biofuels, photovoltaic systems and sustainability. “We’re working

with career and technical education leaders to incorporate more into high school curricula to prime the pipeline so that we have folks to meet that demand,” Kalland says.

North Carolina’s frontline economic development professionals are also eager to embrace opportunities in emerging energy systems. Commerce’s Mundt joined other experts last summer at the annual meeting of the North Carolina Economic Development Association for a panel discussion titled “The Future of Energy.”

“We’re aware that clean energy is here to stay in North Carolina,” says Joanna Helms, president of the 900-member NCEDA. Helms, who heads economic development for the town of Apex, agrees that every county in the state has a shot at jobs and investment from alternative energy-related operations. “A lot of these facilities have a regional, not just local, impact,” Helms explains. “Even if there is not an alternative energy company operating in a specific community, there’s likely one in the region that is bringing benefits.”

Helms says NCEDA will continue offering education and professional development programs highlighting alternative energy opportunities for its members. “We plan to have multiple webinars, workshops and panels this year than can drill deeper into the industry and its needs,” she says. “It’s an industry that is important to North Carolina.”

FROM THE GROUND UP

Educational partnerships create jobs across the east’s 29 counties — including one county that is up in the air.

The NC East Alliance economic development organization is initiating a homegrown approach through educational resources to create a continual, skilled workforce in its 29 Coastal Plain counties.

STEM East connects school district faculties and superintendents, and leadership of 10 community colleges, with employers for careers that utilize science, technology, engineering and math.

“NC East is the only regional economic development organization focusing on our 13,000 teachers in 29 counties as a workforce,” says Vann Rogerson, the Alliance’s president and CEO.

e Alliance’s Industry in Schools career clusters for FY 2023-2024 will train teachers and faculty through publicprivate partnerships so they can educate students in careerspeci c pathways.

California-based BelleJAR Foundation has pledged $1.6 million to help. The Alliance received the first of four annual checks – $400,000 – in 2023 from the foundation, which seeks “unique and innovative approaches to improve educational outcomes for underserved students,” according to its website.

Industry in Schools “provides an opportunity for teachers to engage with regional industry to design instructional programming and classroom activities that align with curriculum standards,” according to the STEM East website.

While funding for Industry in Schools remains an agenda item with the state legislature, some events are taking place. “We’re coming together to solve workforce issues in the region,” says Trey Goodson, the Alliance’s regional economic developer and director of marketing and communications.

“Some areas are health science, aviation sciences, agriculture, advanced manufacturing, the blue economy – boat building, marine trades, tourism – and renewables and alternative energies.”

Last summer, NC East Alliance hosted workshops in health sciences, at Pitt Community College; aviation science, at Craven Community College; and smart agriculture, at James Sprunt Community College in Kenansville.

While other announcements are forthcoming, Goodson says, “ rough these programs, we help teachers learn about these job opportunities and training opportunities for their students to pursue some long-term careers in eastern North Carolina that people may not be aware of.”

One area with multiple jobs is agriculture.

Gary Roberson is a distinguished professor and cooperative extension specialist in the Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department at N.C. State. North Carolina has 8.4 million acres of farmland and leads the country in tobacco and sweet potato production. Agriculture contributes about $76 billion to the state economy.

“I have worked with the STEM East program. Agriculture is changing. It is no longer a business where you can

BIGGEST COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES

East Carolina University, Greenville

UNC Wilmington

UNC Pembroke

Fayetteville State University

Fayetteville Tech Community College

Cape Fear Community College, Wilmington

Pitt Community College, Greenville

ATTRACTIONS

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and Wright

Brothers Memorial, Kitty Hawk

EASTERN SNAPSHOT

COUNTIES:

Beaufort

Bertie

Bladen

Brunswick

Camden

Carteret

Chowan

Columbus

Craven

Cumberland

Currituck

Historic Tryon Palace, New Bern

Battleship North Carolina, Wilmington

Dare

Duplin

Edgecombe

Gates

Greene

Halifax

Hertford

Hoke

Hyde

Lenoir

Martin

Montgomery

Nash

New Hanover

Northampton

Onslow

Pamlico

Pasquotank

Jones

Perquimans

Pender

Pitt

Richmond

Robeson

Sampson

Tyrrell

Wilson Wilmington

Scotland

Washington

Wayne

Airlie Gardens, Wilmington

1886 Roanoke River Lighthouse, Edenton

North Carolina Aquariums: Kure Beach, Roanoke Island, Nags Head and Pine

Knoll Shores

Fort Fisher State Historic Site, Kure Beach

N.C. Maritime Museums: Beaufort, Hatteras, Southport

INDUSTRIES

Aerospace and defense

Agriculture

Biotechnology

Marine

trades

Metalworking

Textiles

Tourism

learn all you need to know by just listening to your parents or neighbors,” Roberson says. “ e modern farmer is part businessman, entrepreneur, crop and soil scientist, machinery technician, personnel manager and marketing specialist.  e list could go on and on. We need to increase our productivity in order to continue to meet the demands of a growing world. At the same time, we need to be good stewards of our resources for e cient production.  is will require a well-prepared farm community and a well-prepared support community. Farmers will need support services they can depend on to keep modern machinery running at peak e ciency.  e demands and opportunities for a local workforce are certainly there.”

Beaufort County on the banks of the Pamlico River also sees “demands and opportunities,” with incoming industries and an undertaking at its Washington-Warren Airport that will have ripple e ects throughout Alliance territory.

“All of what makes North Carolina great are on display here in Beaufort County, where we add in a top-notch quality of life with a coastal/river environment and small town feel that is just 25 minutes from Greenville and less than two hours to Raleigh,” says Brad Hu man, director of Beaufort County Economic Development. “Companies are discovering that there is great opportunity here, such as BTW Global which relocated here recently as well as Elite Truck which is investing in a new headquarters in downtown Washington and scaling up its workforce.

One eld ripe with opportunities recently landed at Beaufort County’s airport.

FOREVER FIRST IN FLIGHT

Until recently, Washington-Warren had a 5,000-foot active runway and 5,000-foot crosswind runway; ve conventional and ve hangar complexes; a 39-acre solar farm and a terminal building with rocking-chair front porch, dedicated in 2015.

“ ere are 72 airports in North Carolina, and 62 that are general aviation like ours, so we’ve been operating at a loss for as long as anyone can remember,” says airport director Earl Malpass. “So, I’ve been trying to put some things in place that would help us to, one, be self-su cient and, two, provide jobs to Washington and Beaufort County. So, what’s our niche? What’s surrounding us?

“We started looking into the future. North Carolina is known as First in Flight and is third or fourth in the nation in the aerospace business, so looking at what I believe is the next frontier in aviation is drone operation.”

Xelevate Unmanned Systems of Excellence, an Unmanned Aircra Systems [drone] testing, development and training center in Leesburg, Virginia, partnered with Washington-Warren in 2022 to make it the rst “Drone Smart” airport on the East Coast – a commercial location for unmanned ight operations.”

Washington-Warren Airport to become the first Drone-Smart airport on the East Coast. Unmanned technology is revolutionizing industries like agriculture.

“Forever First in Flight is the term we’re using,” Malpass says. “It’s important that everyone understands that Washington is not becoming a ‘drone airport,’ but an airport that has integrated drone use.”

Xelevate’s presence is expected to impact many factors of coastal life.

“Creating a workforce to complement the drone industry will be a long-term e ort and include not only Beaufort Public Schools, Beaufort County Community College but East Carolina University as well,” Hu man says. “Xelevate’s partnership has helped draw attention to Beaufort County and the unique value proposition that we have here. [We] exemplify all the great characteristics that have made the state of North Carolina a consistent and recognized leader in economic development. Our strategic location at the mid-point of the Eastern Seaboard, where a large percentage of the U.S. population is within a day’s drive; a competitive tax environment and low cost of doing business; as well as support from the community college and university system makes our state the envy of most.”

“We plan to partner with companies like Xelevate to grow a local, homegrown workforce in adjoining counties,” Rogerson says. “When companies come to Beaufort County for testing, manufacturing and so ware development, NCEast Alliance’s Industry in Schools Initiative will partner and grow local workers for the company’s future multi-county labor shed. We

look forward to supporting Xelevate’s development and growth in the eastern region.”

Marcy Eisenberg is president and co-founder of Xelevate, a company created “because we saw a gap in the industry of unmanned systems,” she says. “About 80% of the market is foreign-owned.

“From a national security standpoint, we need to have American-made, born in the USA technologies, so we created Xelevate for aviation, national security, workforce development and education all wrapped into one.” ink First in Flight on ca eine.

“ is whole market has been like drinking from a rehose; it’s moving so incredibly fast,” Eisenberg says. “Obviously the defense market has a big interest in this, but because drones can be a fraction of the cost and solve complex issues we haven’t seen in the past, you see commercial markets starting to use them. Real estate, insurance, agriculture – these are starting to use drones in their business clusters in the area.”

Roberson emphasizes UAV [unmanned aviation vehicle] importance in agriculture. ( e term UAV refers to the vehicle alone, where as UAS includes ground control and communications units.)

“The UAV is flown over the field and captures images of the entire field.  These images are stitched together to form a composite image, which is then analyzed to tell us something about the crop’s health or status,” he says. “Images are captured with either an RGB camera, the same type of camera in a cell phone, or a multispectral camera which can also include near infrared or red edge bands. The imagery, after processing, can be used to estimate plant stands, plant biomass, health or vigor, track weed populations or look for plant stress, such as insects, disease, drought or other factors.”

Then, there’s weather.

“Part of the reason we wanted to be engrained in North Carolina is the hurricane response teams,” Eisenberg says. “N.C. DOT can use drones to fly radios over distraught areas and have conversations with people. They can use drones to start delivering water and medicines and things of that nature. The best part of drones is they are the next flying cell phone.”

Washington-Warren received $20 million in state funding in 2022 for a new landing system, runways and taxiways. Upgrades could generate about 1,000 jobs in contract work, and the aerospace and marine industries. The airport purchased an adjacent 107 acres for an aerospace industrial park; added

water, sewer and electricity at a new corporate jetport and mapped plans for future hangars. Lights were added to the runways.

Further modernization, Malpass says, include adding ber and a 5G antenna, “so companies can send data where they need to, securely. An additional project is we’re the rst and only general aviation airport with drone detection service. Verus Technology Group partnered with us and installed a drone detection system so pilots can detect drones within 2 miles.

“ ird, we purchased LiDAR wind detection system, which monitors from 3 feet to 1,000 feet, and that’s important because the drone customers want to know if the winds are more critical at a certain altitude. We’re only the h airport in the nation using LiDAR,” she says.

Eisenberg says Xelerate is exploring working with Hyde and Dare counites and the N.C. Department of Transportation in DFR (drone as a rst responder) and the FAA’s Beyond Visual Line of Sight applications.

A few years ago, Eisenberg says, Xelevate conducted a pilot ight over Ocracoke that lasted 20 minutes. e drone carried bottled water.

“Essentially it was a DFR, and it can become part of an emergency response team,” she says. “We are working with Hyde County to potentially utilize some of that area for additional innovation work. is is a regional initiative, not just at the airport. e airport is Ground Zero. North Carolina was First in Flight and it will be First in Flight, forever.”

Last year, the N.C. DOT received a rst-of-its-kind waiver from the FAA “to remotely launch and y drones beyond the pilot’s visual line of sight for construction project inspections,” according to a DOT release.

e release states: “NCDOT Division of Aviation is piloting the use of docked drones with the private rm Skydio, one of 18 partners in its Beyond program. NCDOT is one of eight U.S. teams testing and demonstrating how drones can be safely used for business and

Xelevate and the Washington-Warren Airport hosted the UNCW Upward Bound program high school students. The students learned about careers in manned and unmanned aviation. This opportunity was made possible by Dr. Arik King and the Future Kings organization.

government purposes to inform the Federal Aviation Administration’s regulation of these rapidly advancing technologies.”

One facet of Beyond is community engagement – collecting, analyzing and addressing community concerns. “The imagery lets you see from a disaster perspective,” Eisenberg says.

HIGHER EDUCATION

In addition to Beaufort schools, Elizabeth City State University’s bachelor’s degree program in Unmanned Aircraft Systems began in fall 2019. The university also offers a bachelor’s in Aviation Science with a concentration in UAS. “Many students in the Aviation program take courses offered in the UAS program as their electives,” says Dr. Chandra Asthana, UAS program coordinator and associate professor. ECSU has since introduced a minor in UAS and certificate in UAS.

“ECSU has a strong partnership with Wake Tech for drone training to provide education, training, workforce development, outreach and applied research,” Asthana says. “A reality-based simulation center for Basic Law Enforcement Training, including a driver training track and a 4D immersive training village will come up soon. This facility will become the new home of Wake Tech’s EMS program and a new program in Unmanned Aircraft Systems UAS.”

He says the school also is working with a NASA workforce development grant and since 2019 has engaged in summer programs “to provide educational experiences to school children.”

In the future, he says, “We are going to have a bigger building for the Aviation and Emergency Management department that will have more space for UAS labs and lecture rooms. We have many virtual simulation facilities for UAS. In addition, we have a variety of drones that students have hands-on experience with. Some of them are flown with remote controllers while some of them are flown in automated mode for which students make mission plans before launching them in the field.

“The expectation is to have multidirectional growth of UAS program providing many opportunities to the students for employment as well as starting up business of their own.”

Marcy Eisenberg, president of Xelevate Solutions, poses with a drone. Her company is finding new uses for unmanned aircraft.

HELP IS IN THE AIR

“ is is what we’re doing here: We’re here so we can forge into the future with an initiative of policy and technology and provide the consulting to minimize risk and maximize innovation,” Eisenberger says. “ at’s why we’re at the airport, to continue to build in this emerging market.”

“With NC East, the goal is to strategically partner with them,” she continues. “With schools, we’re partnering with how to build UAVs, do the so ware, do the body, ight operations. ese are going to allow eastern North Carolina to plug in a new way to help this market. Start the students young, have them introduced to aviation science early and computer science, and they’ll learn the concepts as they go through school. At Xelevate, we don’t build the drones; we help people. It’s an emerging market, the supply is out there and people in the communities can nd ways to plug in.”

Hu ord says new companies are one ingredient in pushing Eastern North Carolina forward. But there are others.

“I think the biggest challenges we have in eastern North Carolina are to reverse the population trends that have seen population diminish in the east while communities in the Triangle, Charlotte region and Triad have experienced explosive growth the last few years,” he says. “I think North Carolina needs to balance growth to all parts of the state,

and there is no better place to do that than in Eastern North Carolina. To do that, investments need to be made in infrastructure like roads and utilities, a ordable housing options and economic development sites and buildings.

“I think the biggest goal is to grow in relation to the state’s overall growth numbers. If we can begin to attract new companies at the size and scale that the Piedmont has, then we will see population growth and help develop communities that to date have seen decline and reduction in residents. I have always contended that our region su ers from a branding and marketing challenge. Too many people only know us through East Carolina University and vacations at the coast, but there is so much more. ere are homegrown entrepreneurs doing incredible things. We have diverse communities and a growing Latino population as well as many retirees from all over the country that have discovered places like Washington, Belhaven and Chocowinity. If the eastern N.C. counties and political leadership came together and worked toward a common goal, I think we can be the next region that gets the attention of businesses as well as relocating workers.”

Wilmington International Airport serves southeastern North Carolina with major commercial and general aviation services. The airport is serviced by American Airlines, Avelo Airlines, Delta, Sun Country and United.

AT THE CENTER OF THINGS

The Triad, in the middle of the state, is also at the center of big business expansions.

The hits just keep on coming for North Carolina’s Triad region. Toyota announced in mid-2023 that it is investing another $2.1 billion in its electric battery plant at the Greensboro-Randolph Megasite. is brings total expected investment in the car maker’s N.C. facility to $5.9 billion.

“Toyota believes in our world-class workforce to power its future success and I appreciate this enormous commitment here,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said at the time.

Toyota in 2021 revealed plans for $1.3 billion on an electric battery facility, then upped the investment by another $2.5 billion in 2022 before adding another $2.1 billion to the pot last year. It plans to employ 2,100 at the plant in Liberty outside High Point. Production is slated to begin in 2025.

Toyota said the Triad’s education system, diverse workforce, highway system with easy access to airports and seaports and collaboration between local and state government made it the right place to build big.

e Triad is the center of the Carolina Core, which encompasses 17 counties displaying increasing collaboration.

e Triad’s counties include Caswell, Rockingham, Stokes and Surry along the Virginia line; Forsyth and Guilford at the center, along with Alamance, Davie, Davidson, Montgomery, Randolph and Yadkin. e Carolina Core e ort added ve more counties: Chatham, Cumberland, Harnett, Lee and Moore.

e Carolina Core region includes 2 million workers and 7,100 acres of certi ed land to attract businesses. It is threaded together by a 120-mile stretch of U.S. 421 from Dunn to Yadkinville.

“We are the No. 1 state for business in the United States, and we are the heart of manufacturing in the state,” says Brent Christensen, president and CEO of the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce. “We have the best of what North Carolina has to o er without the headaches you might nd elsewhere; we have the least tra c, the shortest commutes.”

Toyota’s huge investment shines an international spotlight on an area that already was known for its exceptional workforce, education and infrastructure.

“Our region is in play for a third of projects currently under consideration through the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina,” says Mark Owens, president and CEO of Greater Winston-Salem. “Forsyth County has a robust pipeline of project interest both through local expansion and external relocation.”

e big announcements in the Carolina Core of 2021 and 2022 are now coming under construction or starting to hire. e projects involve jobs o ering good wages and technological advances.

Boom Supersonic broke ground last year on its Overture factory at a 62-acre campus at the Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro. It projects to hire up

BIGGEST COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES

UNC Greensboro

Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem

Elon University

High Point University

N.C. A&T State University, Greensboro

Winston-Salem State University

Guilford Technical Community College

Forsyth Technical Community College

TRIAD SNAPSHOT COUNTIES: Greensboro

Alamance Caswell Davidson Davie Forsyth Guilford Montgomery Randolph

Rockingham

Stokes

Surry Yadkin

ATTRACTIONS

North Carolina Zoo, Asheboro

International Civil Rights Center & Museum, Greensboro

Old Salem Museum & Gardens, Winston-Salem

Greensboro Science Center

Andy Griffith Museum, Mount Airy

Yadkin Valley Wine Country, Elkin

Kaleideum (North and Downtown museums) Winston-Salem

Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts

INDUSTRIES

Aerospace and defense

Furniture

Finance

Insurance

Textiles

Wine making

to 2,400 employees by 2032. Colorado-based Boom picked Greensboro to produce the Overture plane that will y at twice the speed of today’s commercial jets. It has orders for 130 aircra from American Airlines, United Airlines and Japan Airlines. Test ights are expected to begin 2026.

Energizer Holdings is investing $43 million to expand battery production and packaging at its Asheboro facility and plans to add 144 jobs. e company has been in the Asheboro community for almost 75 years.

Wolfspeed is investing $5 billion and bringing 1,802 jobs to Chatham County for its silicon carbide production site, which will provide semiconductor chips to power electric vehicles. It will be the world’s largest silicon carbide crystal growth facility.

VinFast, a Vietnamese electric car manufacturer, is investing $4 billion and plans to add 7,500 jobs in Chatham County. e company anticipates its plant will start production in 2025 and eventually produce 150,000 vehicles a year.

Siemens Mobility, a division of German engineering giant Siemens AG, plans to hire 506 workers for a passenger rail care manufacturing plant in Lexington. e Davidson County facility is slated to start operating next year.

Marshall USA a subsidiary of the United Kingdom’s largest privately owned aerospace and defense business, announced it is spending $50 million to establish a maintenance and engineering facility at the Piedmont Triad International Airport that will employ 240.

“North Carolina’s reputation for excellence in aerospace and military support continues to grow all around the world,” Cooper said when Marshall USA made its announcement. “ anks to our state’s specialized workforce, companies like Marshall Aerospace that support the vital mission of our service members in uniform continue to choose North Carolina as the perfect place to do business.”

SITES ARE READY TO GO

e Carolina Core’s four certi ed megasites totaling 7,100 acres are luring more business.

e 1,800-acre Greensboro-Randolph Megasite that’s welcoming Toyota is minutes from I-40 and I-85. e Chatham-Siler City Advanced Manufacturing Megasite has 1,800 acres of shovel-ready land powered by excellent logistic and high capacity utilities. e 2,500-acre

Triangle Innovation Point, formerly Moncure Megasite, in Chatham County is within 45 miles of three prominent research universities: UNC Chapel Hill, N.C. State University in Raleigh and Duke University in Durham.

Greensboro-Randolph Megasite

Triangle Innovation Point (formerly Moncure Megasite)

Chatham-Siler City Advanced Manufacturing Megasite

Piedmont Triad International Airport Megasite

And the Piedmont Triad International Airport ‘s 1,000-acre megasite that will be home to Boom Supersonic o ers tenants runway access among other in-demand amenities.

ACADEMICS ADVANCE WORKFORCE

With more than 20 colleges and universities enrolling more than 100,000 students, the Carolina Core is exceptionally equipped to educate a talented workforce for its many varied employers. “I would stack our area up in talent produced by our colleges and universities with any in the country,” says Christensen.

Wake Forest University, UNC Greensboro, Elon University, High Point University and N.C A&T State University, along with several community colleges, play key roles.

e region’s community colleges customize training to individual needs of businesses in many industries, including advanced manufacturing, aviation and aerospace, automotive, biomedical and life sciences, technology, entrepreneurship, and logistics. An example partnership involves Wolfspeed and N.C. A&T State University, the leading U.S. producer of black engineers. Wolfspeed and N.C. A&T are planning a new research facility on the Greensboro campus.

“ e R&D facility will enable the next generation of innovators to explore new processes, applications and breakthrough advancements to support the global transition from silicon to silicon carbide technology and achieve new levels of sustainability and energy e ciency across a variety of industries,” Wolfspeed CEO Gregg Lowe said in a release.

e R&D facility will be focused on silicon carbide to support the next generation of advanced compound semiconductors.

Rendering of Wolfspeed Silicon Carbide Materials manufacturing facility

Similar collaboration is evident at Guilford Technical Community College, which works closely with Piedmont Triad International Airport in one of the Southeast’s biggest aviation programs, says President Dr. Anthony Clarke. “We do multiple classes every semester. So we are at about 420 to 440 students a year in aviation alone. There’s a constant demand for aircraft personnel.”

Also, the N.C. Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education program created a partnership with GTCC to provide two-year, debt-free associate degrees in STEM fields connected with manufacturing.

The federation’s First in Flight chapter partners with Jowat Adhesives in Archdale, MasterBrand Cabinets in Lexington, Toyota Battery Manufacturing in Liberty and ZIEHL-ABEGG, a manufacturer of ventilation fans and drive technology for motors, in Greensboro.

“It’s an apprenticeship-type program in which students can earn a two-year degree in advanced manufacturing

technology,” Clarke says. “You work for the company while you’re going through the program, then once you have your two-year degree you get hired by them and have a great career with all kinds of opportunities. They call it ‘worldclass manufacturing,’ so they want to do best-in-the-world type training.”

INNOVATION IN WINSTON-SALEM

Forsyth County and Winston-Salem’s Innovation Quarter is a hub for medical marvels, technology, research and entrepreneurs. Five academic institutions with 3,600 workers and 1,800 students operate in the IQ. It encompasses eight apartment complexes, including Piedmont Leaf Lofts, repurposed from two 1890s historic buildings, and Winston Factory Lofts, created from a 1920s industrial building.

“The Innovation Quarter, while managed under the auspices of Wake Forest University School of Medicine, exists as a driver within the Winston-Salem and Forsyth County innovation ecosystem,” says James Patterson, the IQ’s director of marketing and communications. “We regularly work with partners from across our region and even the state and globe to make sure we are providing the right kind of environment to help collaboration thrive. For example, our participation as one of the founding members of the Global Institute on Innovation Districts is a signal that we are open to and benefit from collaboration with partners from all over.”

The IQ’s location means people who learn and work there have easy access to arts, entertainment and people elsewhere in downtown. “The Innovation Quarter is the largest technical medical park in the Southeast,” says Nick Gonzalez ,a partner with Linville Team Commercial Real Estate. “The master plan is around 10 million square feet. … We’re really lucky that we have a lot of private and public investment in small business incubators.”

Tenants include:

■ Winston Starts which provides mentors, coaching and resources to entrepreneurs.

■ Flywheel Coworking rents work space and private offices to desks on a weekly and daily basis in its downtown location.

■ Sparq in the IQ’s Bailey Power Plant, offers membership packages for coworking space and conference rooms.

“That power plant was repurposed and has a brewery, a restaurant and a gym. A lot of people live in the apartment next door,” Gonzalez says. “You probably wouldn’t have a development like the power plant if it were in the suburbs.”

A 1.7-mile greenway, Long Beach Trail, runs the length of Innovation Quarter and connects to downtown WinstonSalem, creating a 20-mile loop for pedestrians and cyclists.

(top) Flywheel Coworking and (bottom) the Innovation Quarter

HIGH POINT MARKET

For 114 years, the city of High Point has hosted trade shows for the furniture and home interiors industries.

An economic study in 2017 showed High Point Market Authority events bring $6.7 billion into the state and contribute to 15,000 jobs for people who attend the twice-a-year extravaganza.

e market ranks as having the highest economic impact in the state, says Tammy Nagem, president and CEO of the authority.

“It’s because of the way we work with di erent airports and hotels, and many exhibitors have their corporate o ces here in the state,” she says.

“We service about 90 hotels, three airports, two parking lots with about 2,000 spaces and two modes of transportation to move you about downtown, which comes to about 150,000 rides a year out of our transportation system.

“It’s in our DNA,” she says. “We know how to do it.” e market includes 180 buildings, 11.5 million squarefeet of showroom space, buyers, sellers, designers, exhibitors and suppliers. “Our population almost doubles,” during the market period, Nagem says. “You can stand at a stoplight and hear three languages. is isn’t High Point anymore. It’s an international event.”

The authority has been working on four focus areas for the shows:

First: “To really concentrate on new buyer targets. Our goal is to bring those designers, retailers and other buyers in the trade who are looking for product, so our job is to target the right buyers to come to High Point,” Nagem says. The group has been targeting more antique buyers and the luxury sector.

Second: “We want a frictionless guest experience to make sure people are getting a wellrounded experience with the new products, education, networking, providing some entertainment in the evenings such as national act concerts just open to market guests,” she says.

Third: “Technology. We have a technology road map to make sure the buyer and seller connect in a certain way. If you’re at a bus stop, you can look at your app and tell when the bus will be there,” she says. The app has “a lot of good tools and we try to get real time information between the buyer and seller.”

Fourth: “This is nourishing the next generation of home furnishing professionals. That may sound like it’s out of the scope, but the industry is only as healthy as making sure the next generation understands it. We need to make sure there’s diversity and inclusiveness, and make sure the industry is accessible to all.”

ACCESS BY AIR AND ROAD

Piedmont Triad International Airport averages 280 takeo s and landings each day. It’s the home to companies such as FedEx, Honda Aircra , HAECO Americas, Cessna and Boom Supersonic.

“We’re still a traditional place of transportation, what everyone thinks an airport is, but we also have this mission as part of aerospace employment and we have 8,600 people here in logistics, building and designing airplanes,” says Kevin Baker, PTI’s executive director. “We occupy a very specialized niche in the world of airports because of the land we have [more than 1,000 acres available for economic development]… If Boeing decides they want to make a new airplane, we have the land.”

Greensboro Chamber executive Christensen calls Baker “an incredible airport director because he understands what it takes to get economic development projects and what it takes to keep them for many years to come.”

PTI’s new 180-foot-tall Sen. Kay Hagan Air Tra c Control Tower came on line last November. It has a 15,650-square-foot base that accommodates 10 radar positions and can control airspace within a 60-mile radius, an area that includes 20 general aviation airports. e new tower, which replaces a 90-foot predecessor in use since 1974, cost $58 million.

“[PTI] is into a pretty serious level of preliminary designs of redoing our terminals. We need some updating on the concourses, where you walk out to the planes. ose buildings are 40 years old,” Baker says. “It’s in the early stages of talking with contractors and designers.”

e Triad also bene ts from its proximity to Interstates 40 and 85, which bisect the region east to west, and Interstate 77 running north/south. Two new interstates, I-73 and I-74, are completed in most areas and under construction in others

HAECO Americas’ hangar, Piedmont Triad International Airport

WESTWARD WOW

Western North Carolina’s economy thrives with national companies, homegrown businesses and tourism.

Western North Carolina, known for natural wonders as well as one of the most recognized man-made structures in the country, o ers numerous dichotomies.

It’s historic and hip. e 129-year-old Biltmore House draws more than 1 million visitors annually. Food & Wine magazine ranks Asheville second in the country for the number of cra breweries. e western end of the state draws both the young and old. Retirees ock to N.C. mountain towns from across the country while students are drawn to the regions’ 20-plus colleges.

It’s relaxing and active. Fresh mountain air and gorgeous views mix with whitewater rapids, woodsy trails and snow-covered ski runs to get people of all ages moving. Big businesses and entrepreneurs keep the region growing.

“When talking about economic development, my mind goes to two extremes,” says Clark Duncan, senior vice president of economic development at Asheville’s Chamber of Commerce. “ is current scal year, we just had the ribbon cutting of the Pratt & Whitney turbine airfoil manufacturing plant, the largest investment west of Charlotte, at $650 million and 800 new jobs. at’s a scale of project we aren’t used to winning out here in the west.”

Pratt & Whitney wages will average $68,500 annually, higher than the county average of $40,000.

On the other extreme is the success of startups.

“Venture Asheville [an entrepreneurship initiative] is an

intentional e ort started about 10 years ago to diversify our strategy and grow our own. Call it economic gardening,” he says. “ at 10-year trajectory has passed really signi cant milestones.”

e area’s startups have collectively taken in more than $100 million in revenue in a decade.

“ e common thread is it’s a region that champions economic development. It has a common goal, a shared goal across the region, across the communities and a lot of teamwork to make things happen,” Duncan says, “For the west, it really is about attracting the next generation and the technological state of our workforce. Our automotive and aerospace sectors and our entrepreneurship really speak to our innovation.”

BIG FISH

While tourists and locals swap stories of largemouth bass caught in the French Broad River, economic development folks and job seekers consider the region’s national employers as the big catches.

■ Pratt & Whitney is a subsidiary of Connecticutbased RTX Corporation. It chose Asheville for a 1-million-square-foot plant to manufacture airplane fan blades. e facility is on a 100-acre site Biltmore Farms sold to Pratt & Whitney for $1. Biltmore Farms has 900 acres next to the property that could become home to more companies.

BIGGEST COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES

Western Carolina University, Cullowhee

UNC Asheville

Appalachian State University, Boone

Asheville-Buncombe Technical

Community College

ATTRACTIONS

Biltmore Estate, Asheville

Blue Ridge Parkway

Carl Sandburg Home, Flat Rock

Nantahala Outdoor Center, Bryson City

Tryon International Equestrian Center,

Mill Spring

WESTERN SNAPSHOT COUNTIES:

Alleghany

Ashe

Avery

Buncombe

Burke

Caldwell

Sliding Rock, Transylvania County

North Carolina Arboretum, Asheville

Grandfather Mountain, Linville

Chimney Rock State Park, Chimney Rock

Linville Caverns, Marion

Asheville Tourists minor league baseball

Hickory Crawdads minor league baseball

Cherokee Cultural Attractions, Cherokee

Tweetsie Railroad, Blowing Rock

INDUSTRIES

Henderson

Jackson

Macon

Madison

McDowell

Cherokee Clay Graham Haywood

Mitchell

Polk

Rutherford

Swain

Transylvania

Watauga

Wilkes

Yancey

Aerospace and defense

Furniture

Craft beer

Data centers

Tourism

Advanced manufacturing

Christmas trees

Asheville

■ GE Aviation, which also makes high tech fan blades for jet engines, opened a $126 million plant in 2014 to produce an aircra engine material called ceramic matrix composite. Five years later it invested $105 million more in an expanded facility, increased technology and added jobs. It employs 550 in Asheville and close to 300 at West Je erson in nearby Ashe County.

■ BorgWarner Turbo Systems in Arden makes the turbocharging technology for a wide range of vehicles including IndyCar Series cars that race at more than 200 mph. Since 1977, employment at the western N.C. facility has grown to more than 600 employees. In 2021, Michigan-based BorgWarner invested $62 million in its Arden plant.

ough it takes a lot of small breweries to make western North Carolina a mecca for cra beer enthusiasts, two national companies employ high numbers.

Sierra Nevada Brewing started in California in 1980 and expanded to Mills River in Henderson County in 2015. Along with creating jobs and drawing visitors, Sierra Nevada has been a leader in sustainability. In 2016,

Sierra Nevada Brewing achieved platinum certi cation for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. More recently, it worked with American Recycling of Western North Carolina to develop a joint plastics and cardboard recycling center for about 20 breweries and other businesses.

New Belgium Brewing is a national brand that opened an Asheville brewery in 2016. e Colorado-based company is also a leader in clean energy and sustainability. Its 18-acre facility on the French Broad River includes tables, chairs and bars made from repurposed wood.

e Asheville-Metro Breweries Industry experienced a 357% increase in jobs from 2014 to 2019, the largest percentage increase among manufacturers in the Asheville area. In 2019, the industry had a $935 million economic impact. Its 3,471 jobs pay an average annual salary of $51,844, according to research done for the Economic Development Council.

Western North Carolina’s economy also has two distinctive employers unlike any elsewhere in the state.

e 8,000-acre Biltmore Estate employs more than 2,000 people at the home and grounds. Visitors drop jaws at the 250 rooms, which include 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, 65 replaces, an indoor pool and a banquet table with seating for 64.

Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort, owned by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, accounts for 7,000 jobs, according to the Eastern Band. e complex includes two casinos managed by Caesars Entertainment, four hotel towers with 1,800 rooms, restaurants and retail.

HOMEGROWN SUCCESS

Small businesses also play a vital role in the economic ecosystem. Venture Asheville is an initiative by the Economic Development Coalition for AshevilleBuncombe County and the Asheville Chamber of Commerce. Its Elevate program pairs founders and executives with entrepreneurs. It also o ers experts in human resources, patents, nance and branding.

“In the world of entrepreneurship, success o en hinges on the ability to navigate complex and rapidly changing environments,” says director Je Kaplan. “At Elevate, we believe mentorship, experiential learning and competency assessments are essential tools for founders seeking to build resilient and sustainable businesses.”

Poppy Handcrafted Popcorn is an example of a company that benefited from Venture Asheville’s Elevate incubator. Founder Ginger Frank started Poppy in 2014. She now employs 45, has more than 30 flavors, and her Parmesan & Black Pepper variety topped all bagged popcorns by Tasting Table, a website for food and beverage connoisseurs.

“Venture Asheville came along at a very pivotal point in the Poppy journey,” Frank says. “They offered advice, helped me carve out direction, provided connections to financial resources, helped me solve problems, even showed up at times to help fix machinery or fill orders.”

Last year, Frank announced a $4.3 million investment to double Poppy’s manufacturing space with 45,000-squarefeet of new production facilities and the creation of 66 jobs in the next five years. Wages will be $26.40 per hour.

David and Christina Ackely’s entrepreneurial journey also was guided by Venture Asheville and Elevate. While living in Panama they discovered how to make ginger beer, and started showcasing their product at homebrew festivals. In 2015, the couple incorporated their beverage and opened Ginger’s Revenge in 2017. It now employs

23, is brewed in batches of 472 gallons and is distributed to more than 650 locations in North Carolina, South Carolina and Ohio.

BUSINESS & COLLEGE COLLABORATION

Private and public colleges in western North Carolina work closely with employers to help students excel in the workforce. Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College’s Manufacturing Center offered a free Pratt & Whitney Fast Track training program to put residents into aerospace manufacturing jobs.

“We have been preparing for this important step for several years through new equipment acquisitions, adding key staff members, and developing training curricula,” A-B Tech’s director of economic and workforce development Kevin Kimrey said in a release. The Appalachian Regional Commission awarded the college two $1.5 million grants for technical equipment purchases for specialized Pratt & Whitney training. The commission exists to strengthen economic growth in 423 counties in 13 states across Appalachia.

Another example of education meeting changing needs of students and the workplace is under construction 85 miles away at Appalachian State University in Boone.

e school broke ground last year on its Conservatory for Biodiversity Education and Research, the rst academic building in its Innovation District.

“As the Innovation District develops, it will provide a thriving space where students, faculty and sta work together with industry partners in specialized areas that capitalize on Appalachian State’s strengths and regional identity. Collaborations across colleges and disciplines will prepare students for career progression in a dynamic work environment,” said Appalachian State Chancellor Sheri Everts in a press release. e conservatory is slated to open next fall.

e 50,000-square-foot building will be among the nation’s rst academic research facilities built to the sustainability standards of the Living Building Challenge, according to Nick Katers, vice chancellor of facilities management at ASU. e building must generate more energy than it uses and be made of materials that are healthy for the environment.

AIRPORT EXPANSION

Twelve miles from downtown, Asheville Regional Airport is growing to serve the metro area’s 450,000 residents. e N.C. Local Government Commission approved the airport authority’s recent request for $175 million in transportation revenue bonds, making way for its terminal expansion.

e airport serves six airlines: Allegiant, American, Delta, JetBlue, Sun Country and United. With 25 domestic and international destinations, it’s the third-busiest airport in North Carolina, according to a release from the N.C. Department of State Treasurer. Asheville Regional served 1.8 million passengers in 2022.

THE MOUNTAINS ARE CALLING

Along with natural wonders, themed hotels and local food are tourism lures. Buncombe County’s mountains, abundance of arts galleries, varied culinary experiences, music scene and historical buildings are tourism magnets.

e N.C. Department of Commerce reports Buncombe ranked second in N.C. traveler expenditures in 2021, with visitors dropping $2.6 billion. (Mecklenburg County ranked rst.)

Cass Herrington with Explore Asheville says a trend for 2023 is to promote group travel experiences and places for parties to stay that “foster meaningful connections and integrate wellness into their corporate and event travel itineraries.”

“Asheville is known as one of the most colorful fall destinations in the nation, and one of the longest leaf seasons in the world due to the biodiversity combined with staggered color change at di erent mountain elevations,” she says. “ is is a great time to take in the scenes with trail running, hiking, mountain biking and forest bathing.”

eme hotels such as e Flat Iron (Prohibition-themes, with hidden speakeasy), e Radical (also with speakeasy) and Zelda Dearest (as in novelist Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald) are popular stays for group experiences. Wrong Way Cabins & Campground, which opened in 2022 with 16 tiny A-frame cabins near the French Broad River, is another addition to the lodging mix.

“It’s one of the few rivers in the world that ows north, thus inspiring the ‘wrong way’ moniker,’ ” Herrington says. “ e riverside accommodation is a rst-of-its-kind lodging option that combines the casual nostalgia of a campground with hotel conveniences.”

Destinations for animal enthusiasts include Mountain Horse Farm, Montgomery Sky Farm and Dr. King’s Farms.

With 2023 being North Carolina’s “Year of the Trail,” Buncombe is touting its proximity to national and state parks. Outdoor tour company Asheville Wellness Tours has several guided experiences for groups.

Foodies have continued reasons to treat their palates in Asheville. e area o ers popular farm tours, farm-totable restaurants and the NC Green Travel Initiative, which “recognizes North Carolina restaurants (and other businesses) who go above and beyond to reduce their carbon “forkprint.”

e WNC Cheese Trail pairs western North Carolina cheeses with wineries as well as the Blue Ridge Mountain Creamery and Round Mountain Creamery.

“Asheville during the fall season is more than colorful leaves and stunning mountain vistas,” Herrington says. “Shaped and nurtured by nature, Asheville speaks to the growing number of travelers seeking to authentically connect with the natural world and the local community.”

Breweries like Innovation Brewery in Sylva bring crowds year round.

READY TO HELP

Businesses expand or locate in North Carolina for many reasons, including financial incentives and grants. Here are some of what’s available and the investments they helped make possible.

NORTH CAROLINA’S 2022 SCOREBOARD

DISCRETIONARY GRANTS

Job Development Investment Grants provide performancebased incentives directly to new and expanding businesses. ey help o set the cost of establishing or expanding in the state.

e One North Carolina Fund awards cash grants based on the number of jobs created, investment made, location selected and economic impact projected.

In 2018, legislators approved a Transformative Project provision of the JDIG grant program. To qualify, companies must create at least 3,000 jobs and invest at least $1 billion within 10 years.

Building Demolition and Building Reuse grants provide funds for site rehabilitation and renovation of vacant industrial and commercial buildings.

TIERED TAX CREDITS

North Carolina annually assesses the economic health of its 100 counties. Each is assigned to one of three tiers. Projects in the 40 most distressed counties — Tier 1 — for example, are eligible for greater tax credits than those in the 21 least distressed, Tier 3.

source: North Carolina Department of Commerce

CALLING NORTH CAROLINA HOME

Four companies from Europe as well as closer neighbors to the north and the south decided last year to plant stakes and hire hundreds in North Carolina. These are some of the biggest announcements.

SIEMENS MOBILITY

MUNICH

NEW JOBS: 500

COUNTY: DAVIDSON

PROJECTED INVESTMENT: $220 MILLION

N.C. INCENTIVES: $5.64 MILLION OVER 12 YEARS

In unveiling plans for a 200-acre passenger railcar plant and service center in Davidson County, company executive Marc Buncher called Lexington “our new East Coast hometown.” e division of Germany’s Siemens AG is a global leader in many industries, including railcars. Buncher cited proximity to customers as a factor in picking the site. Siemens Mobility paid $16.2 million for the property at Lexington Industrial Park, a public-private partnership between the city of Lexington and Front Street Capital, a commercial real estate rm based in Winston-Salem.

GE HITACHI NUCLEAR ENERGY

WILMINGTON

NEW JOBS: 485

COUNTY: NEW HANOVER

PROJECTED INVESTMENT: $85 MILLION

N.C. INCENTIVES: NONE

GE has been a leader in nuclear power technologies since 1955. It began making fuel for nuclear plants in Wilmington in 1969 and, in 2003, moved its nuclear energy division headquarters there from San Jose, California. GE Nuclear’s joint venture with Japan’s Hitachi Group began in 2007. Its latest Wilmington expansion is being driven by a partnership with TerraPower, a designer of nuclear reactors founded by Bill Gates in 2006. e project has support from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program. e project will have an annual payroll impact of $63.5 million and help build the supply chain for a new generation of nuclear power plants, GE-Hitachi says.

SO-PAK-CO

MULLINS, SOUTH CAROLINA

NEW JOBS: 440

COUNTY: SCOTLAND

PROJECTED INVESTMENT: $85 MILLION

N.C. INCENTIVES: $4.6 MILLION OVER 12 YEARS

Founded in 1943, So-Pak-Co is a top supplier of military field rations, also known as meals ready to eat or MRE, to the U.S. military. The company also makes foods for major national brands such as Bush’s Baked Beans. The company opted for Laurinburg over nearby sites in Bentonville and Mullins, South Carolina, for its latest expansion. In addition to its $4.6 million Job Development Investment Grant, the project will receive $2.2 million in road enhancements from the N.C. Department of Transportation and $585,000 in training support from the N.C. Community College System. The 440-job expansion is said to be the largest-ever economic development win for Scotland County, which had the state’s highest unemployment, 6.2% as of August 2023.

ALPITRONIC AMERICAS

BOLZANO, ITALY

NEW JOBS: 300

COUNTY: MECKLENBURG

PROJECTED INVESTMENT: $18.3 MILLION

N.C. INCENTIVES: $2.3 MILLION OVER 12 YEARS

Founded in 2009 and based in northern Italy’s South Tyrol region, Alpitronic develops and produces hyperchargers, the high-powered DC charging stations that recharge electric vehicles. Downtown Charlotte will be home to the company’s U.S. headquarters. Alpitronic’s 70,000-square-foot space will include administrative offices and areas for testing and repair of its charging stations. Positions will average $90,000 in annual pay.

BANK OF LONDON

LONDON

NEW JOBS: 350

COUNTY: MECKLENBURG

PROJECTED INVESTMENT: $33 MILLION

N.C. INCENTIVES: NONE

Charlotte’s reputation as a financial technology hub grew bigger with the mid-2022 announcement by The Bank of London that it would base its U.S. Global Platform & Services headquarters in the Queen City. The bank, founded in 2021, said it will employ 350 people at a 40,000-square-foot space at the downtown’s One Independence Center. Software developers, engineers, technology professionals and risk management specialists are among the positions created by the bank, which provides clearing and settlement services, delivering global banking transactions for the corporate market. Crescent Communities, owner of One Independence Center, is partnering with Nuveen Real Estate to make major renovations at the 20-story building, which opened in 1983.

KEMPOWER

LAHTI, FINLAND

NEW JOBS: 300

COUNTY: DURHAM

PROJECTED INVESTMENT: $41 MILLION

N.C. INCENTIVES: $3 MILLION OVER 12 YEARS

Kempower’s lease of 154,000 square feet of space at Durham’s Tri-Center Park is expected to double the Finnish company’s worldwide operations. Kempower CEO Tomi Ristimäki liked the Bull City’s bustling tech scene and community vibe. “I think that the way in which different cultures and diversity are reflected locally fits perfectly with Kempower’s values: one example of the diversity is that approximately 30% of start-ups in the region are run by women,” Ristimäki says. Formed in 2017, Kempower trades on the Helsinki stock exchange and employs 460 people, according to its website. The company also considered sites in Tennessee and Virginia.

NORTH CAROLINA’S LARGEST PRIVATE COMPANIES

For more than 30 years, Business North Carolina magazine has recognized privately-owned businesses that play pivotal, but often understated, roles in building the state’s economy. Its list, compiled with revenue and employment information shared by companies, includes best estimates for those that prefer not to disclose that information. Private equity controlled companies whose operations are based in North Carolina are eligible for the list. The majority of businesses are closely held organizations with long histories in the state. The list is based on 2022 revenue.

$1 BILLION AND MORE

To view the complete list, visit businessnc.com or scan the code to go directly to the page.

NORTH CAROLINA’S

TOP PUBLIC COMPANIES

Business North Carolina magazine used stock-market performance as of June 30, 2023, to determine this list of the 50 largest public companies headquartered in North Carolina. Stocks of North Carolina’s 75 largest public companies took widely divergent paths in the past year: 17 recorded gains of more than 40%, while nine declined by at least 40%. That was a major change from a year earlier, when only 12 of the 75 companies showed any increases, reflecting a particularly bloody period for investors.

NORTH CAROLINA’S HIGHER EDUCATION DIRECTORY

PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES

APPALACHIAN STATE UNIVERSITY BOONE, HICKORY appstate.edu

EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY GREENVILLE ecu.edu

ELIZABETH CITY STATE UNIVERSITY

ELIZABETH CITY ecsu.edu

FAYETTEVILLE STATE UNIVERSITY

FAYETTEVILLE uncfsu.edu

NORTH CAROLINA AGRICULTURAL AND TECHNICAL STATE UNIVERSITY GREENSBORO ncat.edu

NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY DURHAM nccu.edu

NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY RALEIGH ncsu.edu

UNC ASHEVILLE ASHEVILLE unca.edu

UNC CHAPEL HILL CHAPEL HILL unc.edu

UNC CHARLOTTE CHARLOTTE uncc.edu

UNC GREENSBORO GREENSBORO uncg.edu

UNC PEMBROKE PEMBROKE uncp.edu

UNC SCHOOL OF THE ARTS

WINSTON-SALEM uncsa.edu

UNC WILMINGTON WILMINGTON uncw.edu

WESTERN CAROLINA UNIVERSITY CULLOWHEE wcu.edu

WINSTON-SALEM STATE UNIVERSITY

WINSTON-SALEM wssu.edu

BARTON COLLEGE WILSON barton.edu

BELMONT ABBEY COLLEGE BELMONT belmontabbycollege.edu

BENNETT COLLEGE GREENSBORO bennett.edu

BREVARD COLLEGE BREVARD brevard.edu

CABARRUS COLLEGE OF HEALTH SCIENCES CONCORD cabarruscollege.edu

CAMPBELL UNIVERSITY BUIES CREEK campbell.edu

CAROLINA CHRISTIAN COLLEGE WINSTON-SALEM carolina.edu

CAROLINA COLLEGE OF BIBLICAL STUDIES FAYETTEVILLE ccbs.edu

CAROLINA UNIVERSITY WINSTON-SALEM carolinau.edu

CATAWBA COLLEGE SALISBURY catawba.edu

CHAMBERLAIN UNIVERSITY NORTH CAROLINA CHARLOTTE chamberlain.edu

CHARLOTTE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE AND THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY CHARLOTTE charlottechristian.edu

CHOWAN UNIVERSITY MURFREESBORO chowan.edu

DAVIDSON COLLEGE DAVIDSON davidson.edu

DEVRY UNIVERSITY CHARLOTTE devry.edu

DUKE UNIVERSITY DURHAM duke.edu

ECPI UNIVERSITY CHARLOTTE, GREENSBORO, RALEIGH ecpi.edu

ELON UNIVERSITY

ELON elon.edu

GARDNER-WEBB UNIVERSITY

BOILING SPRINGS gardner-webb.edu

GREENSBORO COLLEGE

GREENSBORO greensboro.edu

GUILFORD COLLEGE

GREENSBORO guilford.edu

HERITAGE BIBLE COLLEGE DUNN heritagebiblecollege.edu

HIGH POINT UNIVERSITY

HIGH POINT highpoint.edu

JOHNSON & WALES UNIVERSITY

CHARLOTTE jwu.edu

JOHNSON C. SMITH UNIVERSITY CHARLOTTE jcsu.edu

LEES-MCRAE COLLEGE BANNER ELK lmc.edu

LENOIR-RHYNE UNIVERSITY

ASHEVILLE, HICKORY lr.edu

LIVING ARTS COLLEGE RALEIGH living-art-college.edu

LIVINGSTONE COLLEGE SALISBURY livingstone.edu

LOUISBURG COLLEGE

LOUISBURG louisburg.edu

MANNA UNIVERSITY

FAYETTEVILLE manna.edu

MARS HILL UNIVERSITY

MARS HILL mhu.edu

MEREDITH COLLEGE RALEIGH meredith.edu

METHODIST UNIVERSITY

FAYETTEVILLE methodist.edu

MID-ATLANTIC CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

ELIZABETH CITY macuniversity.edu

MILLER-MOTTE COLLEGE FAYETTEVILLE, JACKSONVILLE, RALEIGH, WILMINGTON miller-motte.edu

MONTREAT COLLEGE

MONTREAT, BLACK MOUNTAIN montreat.edu

NORTH CAROLINA WESLEYAN COLLEGE ROCKY MOUNT ncwc.edu

NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY

CHARLOTTE, ONLINE northeastern.edu

PFEIFFER UNIVERSITY

MISENHEIMER, CHARLOTTE, RALEIGH, DURHAM pfeiffer.edu

QUEENS UNIVERSITY CHARLOTTE queens.edu

SAINT AUGUSTINE’S UNIVERSITY RALEIGH st-aug.edu

SALEM COLLEGE WINSTON-SALEM salem.edu

SHAW UNIVERSITY RALEIGH shawu.edu

SOUTHEASTERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY WAKE FOREST sebts.edu

SOUTHEASTERN FREE WILL BAPTIST BIBLE COLLEGE WENDELL sfwbc.edu

ST. ANDREWS UNIVERSITY LAURINBURG sa.edu

STRAYER UNIVERSITY NORTH CAROLINA CHARLOTTE, CONCORD, GREENSBORO, HUNTERSVILLE, MORRISVILLE, RALEIGH strayeruniversity.edu

UNIVERSITY OF MOUNT OLIVE

MOUNT OLIVE, DURHAM, GOLDSBORO, SMITHFIELD omu.edu

WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY WINSTON-SALEM wfu.edu

WARREN WILSON COLLEGE SWANNANOA warren-wilson.edu

WATTS SCHOOL OF NURSING DURHAM wattsschoolofnursing.org

WESTERN GOVERNORS UNIVERSITY

DURHAM, ONLINE wgu.edu/north-carolina

WILLIAM PEACE UNIVERSITY

RALEIGH peace.edu

WINGATE UNIVERSITY

WINGATE, CHARLOTTE, HENDERSONVILLE wingate.edu

COMMUNITY COLLEGES

ALAMANCE COMMUNITY COLLEGE BURLINGTON, GRAHAM alamancecc.edu

ASHEVILLE-BUNCOMBE TECHNICALCOMMUNITYCOLLEGE

ARDEN, ASHEVILLE, CANDLER, MARSHALL, WOODFIN abtech.edu

BEAUFORT COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE WASHINGTON beaufortccc.edu

BLADEN COMMUNITY COLLEGE DUBLIN bladencc.edu

BLUE RIDGE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

BREVARD, FLAT ROCK, HENDERSONVILLE blueridge.edu

BRUNSWICK COMMUNITY COLLEGE

BOLIVIA, LELAND, SOUTHPORT, SUPPLY brunswickcc.edu

CALDWELL COMMUNITY COLLEGE AND TECHNICAL INSTITUTE BOONE, HUDSON cccti.edu

CAPE FEAR COMMUNITY COLLEGE BURGAW, CASTLE HAYNE, HAMPSTEAD, WILMINGTON cfcc.edu

CARTERET COMMUNITY COLLEGE

MOREHEAD CITY carteret.edu

CATAWBA VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE

CONOVER, HICKORY, NEWTON, TAYLORSVILLE cvcc.edu

CENTRAL CAROLINA COMMUNITY COLLEGE

DUNN, LILLINGTON, PITTSBORO, SANFORD, SILER CITY cccc.edu

CENTRAL PIEDMONT COMMUNITY COLLEGE

CHARLOTTE, HUNTERSVILLE, MATTHEWS cpcc.edu

CLEVELAND COMMUNITY COLLEGE

SHELBY clevelandcc.edu

COASTAL CAROLINA COMMUNITY COLLEGE JACKSONVILLE coastalcarolina.edu

COLLEGE OF THE ALBEMARLE BARCO, EDENTON, ELIZABETH CITY, MANTEO abemarle.edu

CRAVEN COMMUNITY COLLEGE HAVELOCK, NEW BERN cravencc.edu

DAVIDSON-DAVIE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

BERMUDA RUN, LEXINGTON, MOCKSVILLE, THOMASVILLE davidsondavie.edu

DURHAM TECHNICAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE DURHAM, HILLSBOROUGH durhamtech.edu

EDGECOMBE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

ROCKY MOUNT, TARBORO edgecombe.edu

FAYETTEVILLE TECHNICAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE

FAYETTEVILLE, FORT BRAGG, SPRING LAKE faytechcc.edu

FORSYTH TECHNICAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE

KERNERSVILLE, KING, WALNUT COVE, WINSTON-SALEM forsythtech.edu

GASTON COLLEGE BELMONT, DALLAS, LINCOLNTON gaston.edu

GUILFORD TECHNICAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE

COLFAX, GREENSBORO, HIGH POINT, JAMESTOWN gtcc.edu

HALIFAX COMMUNITY COLLEGE WELDON halifaxcc.edu

HAYWOOD COMMUNITY COLLEGE CLYDE haywood.edu

ISOTHERMAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE

COLUMBUS, RUTHERFORDTON, SPINDALE isothermal.edu

JAMES SPRUNT COMMUNITY COLLEGE KENANSVILLE jamessprunt.edu

JOHNSTON COMMUNITY COLLEGE

CLAYTON, FOUR OAKS, SMITHFIELD johnstoncc.edu

LENOIR COMMUNITY COLLEGE

KINSTON, LA GRANGE, PINK HILL, SNOW HILL, TRENTON lenoircc.edu

MARTIN COMMUNITY COLLEGE WILLIAMSTON, WINDSOR martincc.edu

MAYLAND COMMUNITY COLLEGE BURNSVILLE, NEWLAND, SPRUCE PINE mayland.edu

MCDOWELL TECHNICAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE MARION mcdowelltech.edu

MITCHELL COMMUNITY COLLEGE MOORESVILLE, STATESVILLE mitchellcc.edu

MONTGOMERY COMMUNITY COLLEGE

TROY montgomery.edu

NASH COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROCKY MOUNT nashcc.edu

PAMLICO COMMUNITY COLLEGE BAYBORO, GRANTSBORO pamlicocc.edu

PIEDMONT COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROXBORO, YANCEYVILLE piedmontcc.edu

PITT COMMUNITY COLLEGE WINTERVILLE pittcc.edu

RANDOLPH COMMUNITY COLLEGE ASHEBORO randolph.edu

RICHMOND COMMUNITY COLLEGE HAMLET, LAURINBURG richmondcc.edu

ROANOKE-CHOWAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE AHOSKIE roanokechowan.edu

ROBESON COMMUNITY COLLEGE LUMBERTON robeson.edu

ROCKINGHAM COMMUNITY COLLEGE WENTWORTH rockinghamcc.edu

ROWAN-CABARRUS COMMUNITY COLLEGE CONCORD, KANNAPOLIS, SALISBURY rccc.edu

SAMPSON COMMUNITY COLLEGE CLINTON sampsoncc.edu

SANDHILLSCOMMUNITYCOLLEGE PINEHURST, CARTHAGE, RAEFORD, ROBBINS sandhills.edu

SOUTHEASTERN COMMUNITY COLLEGE WHITEVILLE sccnc.edu

SOUTH PIEDMONT COMMUNITY COLLEGE MONROE, POLKTON, WADESBORO spcc.edu

SOUTHWESTERN COMMUNITY COLLEGE SYLVA southwesterncc.edu

STANLY COMMUNITY COLLEGE ALBEMARLE, LOCUST stanly.edu

SURRY COMMUNITY COLLEGE DOBSON, ELKIN, MOUNT AIRY, PILOT MOUNTAIN, YADKINVILLE surry.edu

TRI-COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE MARBLE, MURPHY, ROBBINSVILLE tricountycc.edu

VANCE-GRANVILLE COMMUNITY COLLEGE CREEDMOOR, HENDERSON, LOUISBURG, WARRENTON vgcc.edu

WAKE TECHNICAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE CARY, MORRISVILLE, RALEIGH, WAKE FOREST, WENDELL, ZEBULON waketech.edu

WAYNE COMMUNITY COLLEGE GOLDSBORO waynecc.edu

WESTERN PIEDMONT COMMUNITY COLLEGE MORGANTON wpcc.edu

WILKES COMMUNITY COLLEGE SPARTA, WEST JEFFERSON, WILKESBORO wilkescc.edu

WILSON COMMUNITY COLLEGE WILSON wilsoncc.edu

Business North Carolina’s list of the state’s best hospitals with 50 or more beds examines data compiled from several sources to determine which medical centers provide the best care for their patients.

e rankings are calculated using more than 25 metrics, including information provided by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Patient-satisfaction surveys, as well as infection, readmission and death rates for common procedures, are also taken under consideration.

Other factors include safety report cards by the Washington, D.C.-based nonpro t e LeapfrogGroup, distinction awards from insurer Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and national performance ratings from U.S. News & World Report.

1

CONE HEALTH MOSES CONE HOSPITAL GREENSBORO

BEDS: 529

2022 RANK: T-1

PRESIDENT: PRESTON HAMMOCK

2

WAKEMED HEALTH & HOSPITALS

RALEIGH

BEDS: 726

2022 RANK: T-5

PRESIDENT AND CEO: DONALD GINTZIG

3 TIED

DUKE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL DURHAM

BEDS: 957

2022 RANK: T-1

PRESIDENT: THOMAS OWENS

3 TIED

FIRSTHEALTH MOORE REGIONAL HOSPITAL PINEHURST

BEDS: 390

2022 RANK: T-14

PRESIDENT: MICKEY FOSTER

3 TIED

UNC HOSPITALS

CHAPEL HILL

BEDS: 929

2022 RANK: T-3

PRESIDENT: JANET HADAR

3 TIED

UNC REX HEALTHCARE

RALEIGH

BEDS: 660

2022: RANK: T-5

PRESIDENT: ERNIE BOVIO

7 TIED

CAROLINAEAST HEALTH SYSTEM

NEW BERN

BEDS: 350

2022 RANK: T-12

CEO: MICHAEL SMITH

7 TIED

NOVANT HEALTH FORSYTH MEDICAL CENTER

WINSTON-SALEM

BEDS: 921

2022 RANK: T-14

PRESIDENT AND COO: CHAD SETLIFF

9 TIED

BEDS: 369

2022 RANK: T-3

PRESIDENT: DEV SANGVAI

10 TIED

ATRIUM HEALTH CABARRUS

CONCORD

BEDS: 457

2022 RANK: 7

10 TIED

CAROMONT REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

GASTONIA

BEDS: 476

2022 RANK: T-8

DUKE REGIONAL HOSPITAL DURHAM

VICE PRESIDENT: ASHA RODRIGUEZ

PRESIDENT AND CEO: CHRIS PEEK

12 TIED

ATRIUM HEALTH

WAKE FOREST BAPTIST

WINSTON-SALEM

BEDS: 885

2022 RANK: 17

CEO: JULIE ANN FREISCHLAG

12 TIED

ATRIUM HEALTH

WAKE FOREST BAPTISTHIGH POINT MEDICAL CENTER

HIGH POINT

BEDS: 351

2022 RANK: 11

PRESIDENT AND CEO: JAMES HOEKSTRA

12 TIED

MISSION HOSPITAL

ASHEVILLE

BEDS: 730

2022 RANK: T-12

CEO: CHAD PATRICK

12 TIED

ATRIUM HEALTH CAROLINAS MEDICAL CENTER

CHARLOTTE

BEDS: 907

2022 RANK: T-8

FACILITY EXECUTIVE: D. CHANNING ROUSH

16

NOVANT HEALTH PRESBYTERIAN MEDICAL CENTER

CHARLOTTE

BEDS: 597

2021 RANK: T-8

CEO: JAMIE FEINOUR

17

FAYETTEILLE

BEDS: 666

2022 RANK: 34

PRESIDENT AND CEO: MICHAEL NAGOWSKI

18

ECU HEALTH MEDICAL CENTER

GREENVILLE

BEDS: 909

2022 RANK: 25

CAPE FEAR VALLEY MEDICAL CENTER

19

BEDS: 186

2022 RANK: 18

PRESIDENT: BRIAN FLOYD

DUKE RALEIGH HOSPITAL RALEIGH

PRESIDENT: DR. BARBARA GRIFFITH

20 TIED

BEDS: 258

2022 RANK: 20

CATAWBA VALLEY MEDICAL CENTER HICKORY

CEO: EDWARD BEARD

20 TIED

NASH UNC HEALTH CARE ROCKY MOUNT

BEDS: 345

2022 RANK: T-22

CEO: L. LEE ISLEY

20 TIED

PARDEE UNC HEALTH CARE HENDERSONVILLE

BEDS: 222

2022 RANK: 27

PRESIDENT AND CEO: JAMES KIRBY II

ALAMANCE

Alamance Chamber of Commerce

ALLEGHANY

336-228-1338 alamancechamber.com EMPLOYMENT

Alleghany County Chamber of Commerce

ASHE

LARGEST

LARGEST

ALEXANDER

alexanderedc.org

HIGHER

LARGEST

336-372-5473 alleghanycountychamber.com EMPLOYMENT

Ashe County Economic Development

336-846-5535 growashe.com

BEAUFORT

Beaufort County Economic Development

252-946-3970

beaufortedc.com

LARGEST PRIVATE-SECTOR EMPLOYER American Emergency Vehicles

ANSON

Anson Economic Development Corp. 704-787-5896 ansonedc.com

AVERY

Avery County Economic Development Council 828-733-8201 averycounty.com/edc

BERTIE

Bertie County Economic Development 252-794-5301 co.bertie.nc.us

HIGHER EDUCATION Roanoke-Chowan Community College; Martin Community College

BLADEN

Bladen County Economic Development Commission 910-645-2292 bladennc.govoffice3.com

EMPLOYMENT BY INDUSTRY Manufacturing: 42.3% Government: 7.5%

LARGEST PRIVATE-SECTOR EMPLOYER Smithfield Foods

LARGEST CITY/TOWN Elizabethtown: population 3,225

COUNTY PROPERTY TAX 78.5 cents per $100 value

HIGHER EDUCATION

Bladen Community College

BUNCOMBE

Economic Development Coalition

Asheville-Buncombe County 828-258-6101

ashevillechamber.org/economic-development

EMPLOYMENT BY INDUSTRY

LARGEST PRIVATE-SECTOR EMPLOYER Mission Health

LARGEST CITY/TOWN Asheville: population 95,513

COUNTY PROPERTY TAX 49.8 cents per $100 value

HIGHER EDUCATION

UNC Asheville; Montreat College; Warren Wilson College; Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College

CABARRUS

Cabarrus Economic Development Corp. 704-703-1725 cabarrusedc.com

(000S)

EMPLOYMENT BY INDUSTRY

14.9%

LARGEST PRIVATE-SECTOR EMPLOYER Amazon

LARGEST CITY/TOWN Concord: population 110,886

COUNTY PROPERTY TAX

74.0 cents per $100 value

HIGHER EDUCATION Barber-Scotia College; Rowan-Cabarrus Community College; Cabarrus College of Health Sciences

CAMDEN

Camden County Economic Development Commission 252-338-6363 camdencountync.gov

EMPLOYMENT BY

LARGEST PRIVATE-SECTOR EMPLOYER Easter Seals UCP North Carolinas

LARGEST CITY/TOWN Elizabeth City

BRUNSWICK

Brunswick Business and Industry Development 910-408-1603 brunswickbid.com

BURKE

Burke Development Inc. 828-764-9370 burkedevinc.com

CALDWELL

Caldwell County Economic Development 828-728-0768 caldwelledc.org

CARTERET

Carteret County Economic Development Department 252-648-7880 carteretedc.com

CASWELL

Caswell County Office of Economic Development 336-933-4674  allincaswellnc.com

EMPLOYMENT

LARGEST PRIVATE-SECTOR EMPLOYER WS Construction

LARGEST CITY/TOWN Yanceyville: population 1,942 COUNTY

HIGHER

Piedmont Community College

CHATHAM

Chatham County Economic Development Corp. 919-542-8274 chathamedc.org

EMPLOYMENT

LARGEST

CATAWBA

Catawba County Economic Development Corp. 828-267-1564 catawbaedc.org

CHEROKEE

Cherokee County Economic Development 828-835-9564, ext. 204 cherokeecounty-nc.gov

CHOWAN

CLEVELAND

Edenton Chowan Partnership Inc. 252-482-2007 edenton.net EMPLOYMENT

Cleveland County Economic Development Partnership 704-669-4703 chooseclevelandcountync.com

LARGEST PRIVATE-SECTOR EMPLOYER Meherrin Agricultural & Chemical

LARGEST CITY/TOWN Edenton: population 4,510 COUNTY PROPERTY

HIGHER EDUCATION College of The Albemarle

CLAY

Clay County Economic Development 828-389-0089 economic.claync.us

COLUMBUS

Columbus County Economic Development Commission 910-640-6608 columbusedc.com

HIGHER EDUCATION Southeastern Community College

CRAVEN

Craven County Economic Development

252-633-5300

cravenbusiness.com

EMPLOYMENT BY INDUSTRY

LARGEST PRIVATE-SECTOR EMPLOYER BSH Home Appliances

LARGEST CITY/TOWN New Bern: population 32,980

COUNTY PROPERTY TAX

cents per $100 value

HIGHER EDUCATION

Craven Community College

CURRITUCK

Currituck County Economic Development

252-232-6015 thinkcurrituck.com

EMPLOYMENT BY INDUSTRY

LARGEST PRIVATE-SECTOR EMPLOYER Spirit Halloween

LARGEST CITY/TOWN Myock, unincorporated

HIGHER EDUCATION College of The Albemarle

DAVIDSON

Davidson County Economic Development Commission 336-243-1900 davidsoncountyedc.com

EMPLOYMENT BY INDUSTRY Manufacturing:

LARGEST PRIVATE-SECTOR EMPLOYER Atrium

CUMBERLAND

Fayetteville Cumberland Economic Development Corp 910-500-6464 fcedc.com

DARE

The Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce 252-441-8144 outerbankschamber.com

DAVIE

Davie County Economic Development Commission 336-751-2714 daviecountyedc.com

HIGHER

DUPLIN

Duplin County Economic Development Commission

910-296-2180 duplinedc.com

DURHAM

Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce 919-328-8750 durhamchambered.org

EDGECOMBE

Carolinas Gateway Partnership 252-442-0114 econdev.org

EMPLOYMENT BY INDUSTRY

LARGEST PRIVATE-SECTOR EMPLOYER QVC

LARGEST CITY/TOWN Rocky Mount (part): population 15,229

COUNTY PROPERTY TAX

95.0 cents per $100 value

HIGHER EDUCATION Edgecombe Community College

FRANKLIN

Franklin County Economic Development Commission 919-554-1863 franklincountync.us

EMPLOYMENT BY INDUSTRY

LARGEST PRIVATE-SECTOR EMPLOYER Novozymes North America

LARGEST CITY/TOWN Louisburg: population 3,137

COUNTY PROPERTY TAX

HIGHER EDUCATION Louisburg College; Vance-Granville Community College

GATES

Gates County Chamber of Commerce 252-506-1592  gatescountync.gov

EMPLOYMENT BY INDUSTRY

LARGEST PRIVATE-SECTOR EMPLOYER Ashton Lewis Lumber

LARGEST CITY/TOWN Gatesville: population 266

COUNTY PROPERTY

HIGHER

College of The Albemarle

GRANVILLE

Granville County Economic Development Department 919-693-5911 granvillecounty.com

EMPLOYMENT

LARGEST

FORSYTH

Greater Winston-Salem Inc. 336-728-9200 winstonsalem.com

GASTON

Gaston County Economic Development Commission 704-825-4046 gaston.org

GRAHAM

Graham County Planning and Economic Development 828-479-7984 grahamcounty.org

GREENE

North Carolina Global TransPark Economic Region 252-775-6180 ncgtpedr.com

EDUCATION Lenoir Community College

GUILFORD

Greensboro Chamber of Commerce

336-387-8310, greensboro.org

High Point Economic Development Corp. 336-883-3116, highpointnc.gov

HARNETT

Harnett County Economic Development 910-893-7524 harnettedc.org

EMPLOYMENT BY INDUSTRY Health care: 13.3% Manufacturing: 11.4%

LARGEST PRIVATE-SECTOR EMPLOYER

Cone Health

LARGEST CITY/TOWN

Greensboro: population 301,532

COUNTY PROPERTY TAX

73.0 cents per $100 value

HIGHER EDUCATION

Bennett, Guilford and Greensboro colleges; High Point and NC A&T State universities; UNC Greensboro; Guilford Technical Community College

HALIFAX

Halifax County Economic Development Commission 252-519-2630

halifaxdevelopment.com

HAYWOOD

Haywood County Economic Development Council 828-456-3021 haywoodchamber.com

COUNTY PROPERTY TAX

cents per $100 value

HIGHER EDUCATION

Campbell University; Central Carolina Community College

HENDERSON

Henderson County Partnership for Economic Development 828-692-6373 gohendersoncountync.org

HOKE

Raeford Hoke Economic Development Commission 910-875-6113 hokecounty.net

EMPLOYMENT BY INDUSTRY Health care: 18.2% Retail: 14.0%

LARGEST PRIVATE-SECTOR EMPLOYER Ingles Markets

LARGEST CITY/TOWN Hendersonville: population 16,443 COUNTY PROPERTY TAX

cents per $100 value

HIGHER EDUCATION Blue Ridge Community College

HERTFORD

Hertford County Economic Development 252-358-7801 hertfordcountync.gov

HYDE

Hyde County Office of Planning and Economic Development 252-926-4178 hydecountync.gov

HIGHER EDUCATION Beaufort County Community College

IREDELL

Iredell Economic Development Corp.

704-663-1898

iredelledc.com

JOHNSTON

Johnston County Economic Development

919-205-1232

LEE

LARGEST

LARGEST

JACKSON

Jackson County Office of Economic Development, 828-631-2240 jacksonthrive.jacksonnc.org Jackson County Chamber of Commerce 800-962-1911, mountainlovers.com

HIGHER

LARGEST

growwithjoco.com EMPLOYMENT

Sanford Area Growth Alliance

919-774-8439 growsanfordnc.com/edc

LINCOLN

Lincoln Economic Development Association

704-732-1511 lincolneda.org

LARGEST

JONES

Jones County Economic Development 252-448-1315 jonescountync.gov

LENOIR

North Carolina Global TransPark Economic Development Region 252-775-6180 ncgtpedr.com

MACON

Macon County Economic Development Commission 828-369-2306 maconedc.com

MADISON

Madison County Economic Development Board

828-649-1377

MCDOWELL

EMPLOYMENT BY INDUSTRY

investinmadison.com EMPLOYMENT BY INDUSTRY

McDowell Economic Development Association Inc. 828-652-9391 mcdowelleda.org

LARGEST PRIVATE-SECTOR EMPLOYER Ingles Markets

LARGEST CITY/TOWN Mars Hill: population 2,194

COUNTY PROPERTY TAX

cents per $100 value

HIGHER EDUCATION Mars Hill College; Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College

MARTIN

Martin County Economic Development Corp. 252-789-4904 martincountyedc.com

MECKLENBURG

Charlotte Regional Business Alliance 704-378-1300 charlotteregion.com

LARGEST PRIVATE-SECTOR EMPLOYER Baxter International

LARGEST

HIGHER

MITCHELL

MOORE

MONTGOMERY

HIGHER

Mitchell County Economic Development Commission 828-537-1690 mitchellcountyedc.org EMPLOYMENT

Moore County Economic Development Partnership 910-246-0311 moorecountyedp.org

EMPLOYMENT

Montgomery County Economic Development 910-576-4221, ext. 1308 montgomerycountync.com

NASH

Nash County Economic Development 252-462-2737, selectnashnc.com

N.C. Wesleyan College; Nash Community College

NEW HANOVER

Wilmington Business Development 910-763-8414

wilmingtonbusinessdevelopment.com

Jacksonville Onslow Economic Development 910-939-7023 joednc.com

PAMLICO

Pamlico County Office of Economic Development

252-745-3081 pamlicocounty.org

EMPLOYMENT

LARGEST PRIVATE-SECTOR EMPLOYER

Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center

LARGEST CITY/TOWN Wilmington: population 121,309

NORTHAMPTON

Northampton County Economic Development Commission 252-534-1092 northamptonnc.com

HIGHER EDUCATION

UNC Wilmington; Cape Fear Community College

ORANGE

EMPLOYMENT

LARGEST

Orange County Economic Development 919-245-2325 orangecountync.gov

PASQUOTANK

Elizabeth City Pasquotank County Economic Development Commission 252-338-0169 elizabethcitypasquotankedc.com

HIGHER

PENDER

Wilmington Business Development

910-763-8414 wilmingtonbusinessdevelopment.com

PERQUIMANS

Perquimans County Economic Development Commission 252-426-8484 econdevperquimansnc.com

PERSON

Person County Economic Development Commission

POLK

336-597-1752 personcountyedc.com EMPLOYMENT BY

Polk County Office of Economic Development

828-894-2895 polkedc.com

LARGEST PRIVATE-SECTOR EMPLOYER GKN Automotive Components

LARGEST CITY/TOWN

Roxboro: population 8,162 COUNTY PROPERTY TAX

HIGHER

Piedmont Community College

PITT

Pitt County Economic Development 252-902-2079 growpittcountync.com

RANDOLPH

Randolph County Economic Development Corp. 336-626-2233 rcedc.com

LARGEST PRIVATE-SECTOR EMPLOYER Acts

LARGEST

RICHMOND

Richmond County Economic Development 910-997-8190 richmondnced.com

ROCKINGHAM

Rockingham County Center for Economic Development, Small Business & Tourism 336-342-8138 rockinghamcountync.gov

EMPLOYMENT BY INDUSTRY Manufacturing: 24.5%

ROBESON

Robeson County Office of Economic Development 910-739-7584 robesoncountyoed.org

ROWAN

Rowan EDC Partnership for Economic Development 704-637-5526 rowanedc.com

Catawba College; Livingstone College; Rowan-Cabarrus Community College

RUTHERFORD

Rutherford County Economic Development

828-287-6200 rutherfordncedc.com

SCOTLAND

Scotland County Economic Development Corp. 910-266-4326

scotlandcountyedc.org

LARGEST PRIVATE-SECTOR EMPLOYER Walmart

LARGEST CITY/TOWN Forest City: population 7,347

SAMPSON

Sampson County Economic Development Commission 910-592-8921 sampsonedc.com

HIGHER

LARGEST

LARGEST

STANLY

Stanly County Economic Development Commission 704-986-3682 stanlyedc.com

STOKES

SWAIN

Stokes County Economic Development 336-593-2497 stokesedc.com EMPLOYMENT

Swain County Economic Development Commission 828-488-9273 swaincountync.gov

EMPLOYMENT BY INDUSTRY

LARGEST PRIVATE-SECTOR EMPLOYER Walmart

LARGEST CITY/TOWN King (part): population 6,841

SURRY

Surry County Economic Development Partnership 336-401-9900 surryedp.com

TRANSYLVANIA

Transylvania Economic Alliance 828-393-4130 transylvanianc.org

TYRRELL

VANCE

UNION

Tyrrell County Economic Development 252-796-1371 tyrrellcounty.org EMPLOYMENT BY INDUSTRY

Henderson-Vance County Economic Development Corp.

252-492-2094

vancecountyedc.com

EMPLOYMENT BY INDUSTRY

LARGEST PRIVATE-SECTOR EMPLOYER

Capt. Charlie’s Seafood

LARGEST CITY/TOWN Columbia: population 587

COUNTY PROPERTY TAX

HIGHER EDUCATION Beaufort County Community College

Monroe-Union County Economic Development Commission 704-282-5780 developunion.com

WAKE

Wake County Economic Development 919-664-7000 raleigh-wake.org

LARGEST PRIVATE-SECTOR EMPLOYER Walmart

LARGEST

WARREN

Warren County Economic Development Commission

252-257-3115

EMPLOYMENT

LARGEST PRIVATE-SECTOR EMPLOYER Glen Raven

LARGEST CITY/TOWN Norlina: population 920

COUNTY PROPERTY TAX

cents per $100 value

HIGHER

WATAUGA

Watauga County Office of Economic Development 828-264-3082 wataugaedc.org

WASHINGTON

Washington County Economic Development 252-793-5823 washconc.org

WAYNE

North Carolina Global TransPark Economic Development Region 252-775-6180 ncgtpedr.com

WILKES

Wilkes Economic Development Corp.

336-838-1501

wilkesedc.com

YADKIN

Yadkin County Economic Development Council 336-679-2200 yadkinedc.com

LARGEST

WILSON

Wilson Economic Development Council 252-237-1115 wilsonedc.com

YANCEY

Yancey County Economic Development Commission 828-682-7722 yanceyedc.org

SOURCES

Population, counties, largest city/town, employment and unemployment rate: N.C. Office of State Budget and Management. Hyde and Currituck counties have no incorporated towns. Employment share by industry sector and largest private-sector employer: N.C. Department of Commerce Labor and Economic Analysis Division, as of fourth quarter of 2022. 2023-24 property-tax rate: N.C. Department of Revenue. Per capita income: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Community colleges are listed for every county in their designated service area.

*Per capita income is for 2022, the most recent year available.

Since being named the top state for business by CNBC for a second year in a row, a story about North Carolina comes up with most any online search with the words “business friendly” or “No.1 for business.” As the state continues to land companies investing millions and billions of dollars, its education system, quality of life, business incentives and collaboration between government entities score high on rankings. #1 AMERICA’S TOP STATE FOR

LARGEST CITIES

REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIPS

CHARLOTTE

REGIONAL BUSINESS ALLIANCE

JANET LABAR, PRESIDENT AND CEO jlabar@charlotteregion.com 330 S. Tryon Street Charlotte, NC 28202 charlotteregion.com | 704-378-1300

Serves Alexander, Cabarrus, Catawba, Cleveland, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Rowan, Stanly and Union counties in North Carolina and four South Carolina counties.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

PARTNERSHIP OF NORTH

CHRISTOPHER CHUNG, CEO clientservices@edpnc.com 150 Fayetteville Street, Suite 1200 Raleigh, NC 27601 edpnc.com | 919-447-7777

CAROLINA

Serves the state, working with regional and local partners to help businesses relocate and grow.

MOUNTAIN WEST PARTNERSHIP

125 Bonnie Lane Sylva, NC 28779 gownc.org | 828-586-1962

Serves Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties and Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

NORTH CAROLINA GLOBAL

TRANSPARK ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT REGION

MARK POPE, PRESIDENT info@ncgtpedr.com 2780 Jetport Road Kinston, NC 28504 ncgtpedr.com | 252-775-6180

Serves Greene, Lenoir, and Wayne Counties and the North Carolina Global TransPark.

NCEAST ALLIANCE

VANN ROGERSON, PRESIDENT AND CEO rogerson@nceast.org

209 E. Fifth Street Greenville, NC 27858 nceast.org | 252-482-4333

Serves Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Craven, Currituck, Dare, Duplin, Edgecombe, Gates, Greene, Halifax, Hertford, Hyde, Jones, Lenoir, Martin, Nash, Northampton, Onslow, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Pitt, Tyrrell, Washington, Wayne and Wilson counties.

NORTH CAROLINA’S SOUTHEAST

STEVE YOST, PRESIDENT locate@ncse.org

707 W. Broad Street, P.O. Box 2556 Elizabethtown, NC 28337 ncse.org | 910-862-8511

Serves Anson, Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, Craven, Cumberland, Duplin, Hoke, Lenoir, Montgomery, Moore, New Hanover, Onslow, Pender, Robeson, Sampson, Scotland and Wayne counties.

PIEDMONT TRIAD PARTNERSHIP

MIKE FOX, PRESIDENT AND CEO info@ptpnc.com 416 Gallimore Dairy Road, Suite M Greensboro, NC 27409 piedmonttriadnc.com | 336-668-4556

Serves Alamance, Caswell, Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Guilford, Montgomery, Randolph, Rockingham, Stokes, Surry and Yadkin counties.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE

REGIONAL PARTNERSHIP

RYAN COMBS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR rcombs@researchtriangle.org P.O. Box 110351

Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 researchtriangle.org | 919-670-2819

Serves Chatham, Durham, Franklin, Granville, Harnett, Johnston, Lee, Nash, Person, Wake, Warren and Wilson counties and Research Triangle Park.

EDPNC BUSINESS / INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT AND RECRUITMENT

CLIENT SERVICES

919-447-7744

clientservices@edpnc.com edpnc.com

EDPNC EXPORT ASSISTANCE

Mike Hubbard, director of international trade

919-447-7757

mike.hubbard@edpnc.com edpnc.com/start-or-grow-a-business/ export-assistance

EDPNC TOURISM

Wit Tuttell, vice president 919-447-7740 wit.tuttell@visitnc.com visitnc.com

GOLDEN LEAF FOUNDATION

Scott Hamilton, president 252-442-7474

shamilton@goldenleaf.org goldenleaf.org

N.C. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Susan Fleetwood, executive director of economic development

919-814-4605

sfleetwood@nccommerce.com nccommerce.com

N.C. BOARD OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION

John Hardin, executive director 919-814-4639

jhardin@nccommerce.com nccommerce.com/sti

NORTH CAROLINA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION

Liz Dobbins-Smith, managing director 888-246-2332 liz@nceda.org nceda.org

STATE LIBRARY OF NORTH CAROLINA

Susan Forbes, assistant state librarian 919-814-6786

susan.forbes@ncdcr.gov statelibrary.ncdcr.gov

UNC SYSTEM General administration 919-962-1000 northcarolina.edu

N.C. COMMUNITY COLLEGE SYSTEM

Bruce Mack, vice president of economic development 919-807-7150 mackb@nccommunitycolleges.edu nccommunitycolleges.edu

NORTH CAROLINA INDEPENDENT COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES

A. Hope Williams, president 919-832-5817

williams@ncicu.org ncicu.org

NORTH CAROLINA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS

Andrea Bushnell, CEO 336-294-1415 abushnell@ncrealtors.org ncrealtors.org

NORTH CAROLINA LEAGUE OF MUNICIPALITIES

Rose Vaughn Williams, executive director 919-715-3930 nclm.org

NORTH CAROLINA CHAMBER

Gary Salamido, president and CEO 919-836-1403

gsalamido@ncchamber.com ncchamber.com

N.C. STATE PORTS AUTHORITY

Brian Clark, executive director 910-763-1621 brian.clark@ncports.com ncports.com