Quote:
Originally Posted by Owen Wister
From Business North Carolina:
"Turns out (that Sanford), 45 miles south of Raleigh, plans to greatly expand its water system, partly to serve the Triangle Innovation Point megasite in neighboring Chatham County.
Here's where it gets interesting: (Mayor Chet) Mann says Triangle Innovation is on track to land either a massive semiconductor chip plant that he believes could be a record economic development deal for North Carolina. Or it may attract another major manufacturing company, he says. Nothing is final, but a lot is going on behind the scenes with chip companies increasingly investing in U.S. operations to reduce the reliance on production in China and Taiwan."
Will be interesting to follow.
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TIP got nixed.
From the Triad Business Journal:
https://www.bizjournals.com/triad/ne...ngle-site.html
U.S. chipmaker walks away from negotiations with Chatham megasite
Jan 14, 2022, 3:02pm EST Updated: Jan 14, 2022, 3:11pm EST
CHATHAM COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
"Triangle Innovation Point sits about 45 minutes from Raleigh.
The Triangle Innovation Point megasite in Chatham County is no longer in the running to land a massive semiconductor facility, sources familiar with the project told Triangle Business Journal.
Sources added that North Carolina's inability to come to terms with the building of a post-treatment facility and the multi-billion dollar ask for incentives that included tax credits for decades may have been reasons why the chipmaker decided to pass over the TIP site, formerly known as the Moncure Megasite. The project faces stiff competition from several states.
The company notified North Carolina officials of its decision in the past couple of days, sources added.
Dubbed "Project Autumn," sources had previously tied the project to Idaho-based Micron Technology Inc. (Nasdaq: MU), which has already announced a $150 billion expansion of its chipmaking capabilities. The company noted it is exploring new sites in the U.S. and abroad. Austin Business Journal reported earlier this month that Micron was scouting locations in Central Texas for a chip factory.
Given the size of the semiconductor project, it was inevitable that tax breaks, grants, infrastructure and workforce assistance would play a critical role in landing the project. "The (incentive) number being discussed would have dwarfed the Apple incentive package," one source added.
Figures from the North Carolina Department of Commerce show the state's incentive package for Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) topped $835 million to secure $1 billion in investment over the next 10 years. Apple's incentives run for about 39 years. Last April, Apple announced $430 billion in new investments for its facilities that would eventually add 20,000 more workers to its payroll. As part of the global expansion, Apple's Research Triangle Park campus is expected to create some 3,000 jobs.
It is unclear at this point whether North Carolina officials will reach out to the chipmaker with a new set of benefits and breaks to sweeten the incentives pot.
Ari Rastegar, founder and CEO of Rastegar Property Company in Austin, had no insider information but said if Texas moves ahead of North Carolina on Micron’s list, it likely comes down to incentives.
“The economy of Texas is so enormous,” he said. “If it were a country, it would be the ninth-largest country in the world. When you’re up against something like that, with a balance sheet of that size, it makes it hard to compete.”
Triangle Business Journal previously reported a domestic semiconductor company was eyeing TIP for a project that would have yielded a $40 billion investment and 5,000-10,000 jobs at full build out. The project would have been the largest in North Carolina economic development history. A Micron spokesperson previously said the company was vetting multiple states in the U.S. for a multibillion dollar facility.
Demand for semiconductors has soared since the onset of the pandemic rankled supply chains across the world, affecting the production of everything from vehicles to appliances. Several domestic chipmakers are making big investments in U.S. facilities, including Samsung’s (OTCMKTS: SSNLF) $17 billion investment for a new facility in Texas – which is eligible for nearly $1 billion in state and local incentives. And this week, Cleveland.com reported that Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) was eyeing a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, for a new facility.
Officials have said both the TIP site and the Chatham-Siler City Advanced Manufacturing Site in Chatham County are being looked at by many large companies. Sources say there are multiple electric vehicle manufacturers eyeing the county's two megasites and those projects are in various stages of their site selection processes.
TIP remains a prime area for a major economic development investment given its proximity to Raleigh and Research Triangle Park. The name of the site was changed after it was repositioned as a potential hub for tech and life sciences rather than traditional manufacturing.
"It's amazing," Michael Smith, president of Chatham County Economic Development, said earlier this month. "The level of interest and activity we've had for both of our megasites, it's been more than we've seen in the history of our organization."
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