A record run of corporate relocations and expansions has kept the dirt flying across North Carolina.
This year’s rankings of major new-job announcements over the past year include powerhouses such as Amazon, Eli Lilly and Toyota Motor. But the list also features lesser-known names such as Boom Supersonic, VinFast and Jaguar Gene Therapy, each promising big operations based on revolutionary new technology.
Meanwhile, the state continues to rack up gains in traditional industries including beverages, building products and distribution.
Several international entrants expect to make a major mark, led by Vietnam’s VinFast; Japan’s Toyota Motor; and Austria’s Red Bull. But some home-grown firms also show up, including Victra, Glen Raven and MegaCorp.
Cabarrus County, which is northeast of Charlotte, had a particularly notable year with large projects unveiled by five companies.
One note of caution: Not all projects pan out as expected. As economic and business conditions change, companies revise strategies both up and down.
These are the top 25 economic development projects, ranked by promises of job creation, announced from June 2021 through May 2022.
1. VINFAST
Hanoi, Vietnam
NEW JOBS: 7,500
COUNTY: Chatham
PROJECTED INVESTMENT: $4 billion
NC CASH INCENTIVES: $316.1 million over 32 years
North Carolina’s decades-long quest for an automobile assembly plant came to fruition with a March announcement by VinFast, part of the Vingroup conglomerate founded by billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong. The company, which delivered its first electric vehicles in Vietnam in December, says it will start assembling vehicles in Chatham County’s Moncure community in July 2024. Total state and local investment, including roads and utilities around the plant, could top $850 million if VinFast meets its targets for jobs and investment. The 2,150-acre Triangle Innovation Point was among 29 sites in 29 states that VinFast officials considered before narrowing their search to Moncure and Savannah, Georgia. Founded in 2017, the company intends to make electric SUV models expected to trade for more than $40,000.
2. MACY’S
New York, New York
NEW JOBS: 2,800
COUNTY: Rowan
PROJECTED INVESTMENT: $584 million
NC CASH INCENTIVES: $2.3 million over 12 years
By mid-2024, China Grove is expected to be the home of a 1.4 million-square-foot fulfillment center that will serve customers of the storied American retailer. The site is slated to account for 30% of Macy’s digital supply-chain capacity. Online sales make up about a third of sales at the company, which operates about 725 stores. New Jersey-based Silverman Group is collaborating with real estate advisory firm Avison Young in developing the property at the 85 North Logistics Center. Macy’s executives cited the region’s strong labor market and highway network as the factors leading them to Rowan County.
3. (TIE) TOYOTA MOTOR
Aichi, Japan
NEW JOBS: 1,750
COUNTY: Randolph
PROJECTED INVESTMENT: $1.2 billion
NC CASH INCENTIVES: $79.1 million over 20 years for first phase
Toyota’s first North American battery plant will support the company’s 10 U.S. automotive assembly sites, while providing a high-profile jolt to the Triad’s reputation as a manufacturing center. Expected to begin operating in 2025, the site will initially feature four production lines, with two more anticipated later. Average salaries are likely to top $62,000. Each line will deliver enough lithium-ion batteries to power 200,000 vehicles. Access to renewable energy was among the factors leading the Japanese automaker to the Greensboro-Randolph Megasite. Electric and hybrid vehicles currently comprise 25% of Toyota’s sales, a number the company hopes to increase to 70% by 2030.
3. (TIE) BOOM SUPERSONIC
Denver, Colorado
NEW JOBS: 1,750
COUNTY: Guilford
PROJECTED INVESTMENT: $500 million
NC CASH INCENTIVES: $87.2 million over 20 years
Gov. Roy Cooper described the company’s choice of Piedmont Triad International Airport for a manufacturing site “both poetic and logical” given North Carolina’s history as the birthplace of flight. The company aims to shake up the commercial aviation industry with its Overture jet expected to fly at twice the speed of sound while burning sustainable aviation fuels. The company’s factory will span 400,000 square feet and be LEED-certified. Boom says it plans to begin production in 2024, with test flights by 2026.
5. AMAZON
Bellevue, Washington
NEW JOBS: 850
COUNTIES: Alamance, Cumberland, Johnston and Pender
PROJECTED INVESTMENT: $200 million
NC CASH INCENTIVES: 0
E-commerce giant Amazon employs 27,000 North Carolina workers and has invested $5 billion at more than 25 Tar Heel operations. It’s quickly become among the state’s biggest employers over the past few years. Amazon typically doesn’t seek state incentives, but it benefits from local support in some cases. For example, its 1 million- square-foot warehouse at Fayetteville’s Military Business Park, expected to open late this year, is receiving $2.5 million in incentives from county and city governments. Another 620,000-square-foot center with an expected 500 jobs is being built in Smithfield in Johnston County.
6. KROGER
Cincinnati, Ohio
NEW JOBS: 700
COUNTY: Cabarrus
PROJECTED INVESTMENT: $92 million
NC CASH INCENTIVES: $2.3 million over 12 years
The country’s largest supermarket chain plans to deploy artificial intelligence, robotics and other advanced technologies at a 200,000-square-foot customer fulfillment center in Concord. Annual pay is expected to top the Cabarrus County average of $41,255. The company, which owns Harris Teeter, operates similar fulfillment centers in four other states. Plans call for expansions in at least seven other U.S. locations as Kroger expands its home-delivery business.
7. ELI LILLY 
Indianapolis, Indiana
NEW JOBS: 600
COUNTY: Cabarrus
PROJECTED INVESTMENT: $1 billion
NC CASH INCENTIVES: $12.13 million over 12 years
Concord’s former Philip Morris property, now known as The Grounds, will be the backdrop of Eli Lilly’s planned five-building campus that will include manufacturing and logistics facilities, a quality-control lab and a utilities plant. The company’s 800,000-square-foot project complements Eli Lilly’s new manufacturing site in Durham, a $470 million project announced in early 2020. Both sites will focus on producing injectable medications for diabetes patients and others.
8. VICTRA
Raleigh
NEW JOBS: 592
COUNTY: Pitt
PROJECTED INVESTMENT: n/a
NC CASH INCENTIVES: 0
Victra is a Verizon Wireless dealer that operates 1,600 locations in 49 states. Its contact center in Winterville handles inbound customer calls, outside sales and tech support for store-based personnel. Rich Balot co-founded the business in 1996 as an undergraduate student at East Carolina University in Greenville. In April, the company announced its acquisition of Las Vegas-based Go Wireless, boosting its national workforce to 7,000 employees.
9. MASTERBRAND CABINETS
Jasper, Indiana
NEW JOBS: 450
COUNTY: Lenoir
PROJECTED INVESTMENT: $13.5 million
NC CASH INCENTIVES: $3.88 million over 12 years
MasterBrand Cabinets, a division of Fortune Brands Home and Security, is the largest maker of kitchen and bathroom cabinets in North America. Demand for kitchen cabinetry is the primary driver of its expansion in Kinston, where the company is doubling its existing workforce over the coming five years. Wages for new jobs are expected to exceed the Lenoir County average of about $40,000 annually. Aristokraft, Diamond, Kemper and Woodcrafters are among the company’s brands.
10. RED BULL / RAUCH
Salzburg, Austria / Vorarlberg, Austria
NEW JOBS: 400
COUNTY: Cabarrus
PROJECTED INVESTMENT: $740 million
NC CASH INCENTIVES: $1 million/$3.1 million, both over 12 years
A joint venture by the two Austrian companies will create a regional manufacturing, filling and distribution hub at The Grounds in Concord. It’s said to be the largest economic investment in Cabarrus County history. Canning company Rauch and beverage giant Red Bull will share 500 acres at the once-sprawling Philip Morris plant, ultimately operating 1.4 million square feet and 800,000 square feet of space, respectively. Rauch says it will add about 320 jobs over 12 years, while Red Bull projects 90 in the same period. Pay will average more than $50,000 a year, the companies said.
11. BESTCO
Mooresville
NEW JOBS: 394
COUNTY: Iredell
PROJECTED INVESTMENT: $177 million
NC CASH INCENTIVES: $2 million over 12 years
BestCo began as a candy confectioner in South Africa in 1894. Today, the company operates from a 47-acre campus in Mooresville and is owned by Santa Cruz Nutritionals, a California-based manufacturer of over-the-counter lozenges and medicinal gummies. The expansion increases BestCo’s footprint in Iredell County to 1 million square feet and will push its local payroll to 1,000 employees. New jobs will pay an average of about $51,000 annually.
12. AMGEN
Thousand Oaks, California
JOBS: 355
COUNTY: Wake
PROJECTED INVESTMENT: $550 million
NC CASH INCENTIVES: $11.6 million over 12 years
Amgen develops and manufactures medications for hard-to-treat illnesses in cardiovascular health, neuroscience, oncology and other fields. The public company broke ground for a 220,000-square-foot facility in Holly Springs, which will open in 2025. Annual compensation is expected to top $119,000. The southern Wake County town beat out Houston for the project, which joins North American Amgen plants in California, Ohio, Puerto Rico and Rhode Island.
13. (TIE) MEGACORP LOGISTICS
Wilmington
JOBS: 300
COUNTY: New Hanover
PROJECTED INVESTMENT: n/a
NC CASH INCENTIVES: 0
Denise and Ryan Legg founded MegaCorp in 2009 and have built a 375-person workforce in the Wilmington area. The company helps customers arrange transportation and logistics. The latest expansion will add 300 jobs to its Port City payroll, at salaries averaging nearly $63,000 per year. MegaCorp considered Jacksonville, Florida, and Cincinnati, where it also has facilities, for the expansion. While the project didn’t receive incentives from the state, the City of Wilmington and New Hanover County approved a combined $500,000.
13. (TIE) POLYWOOD
Syracuse, Indiana
JOBS: 300
COUNTY: Person
PROJECTED INVESTMENT: $61.6 million
NC CASH INCENTIVES: $3 million over 12 years
Polywood ranked 13th in our 2019 Top 25 list after the Indiana-based maker of outdoor furniture picked Roxboro for its second manufacturing site. Less than three years later, the company plans an expansion expected to nearly double its North Carolina workforce. Polywood founder and CEO Doug Rossi cited strong community support and an excellent talent pool as the prime factors leading the company to double down on its investment in Person County.
15. THERMO FISHER SCIENTIFIC
Waltham, Massachusetts
JOBS: 290
COUNTY: Pitt
PROJECTED INVESTMENT: $154 million
NC CASH INCENTIVES: $4.53 million over 12 years
Thermo Fisher’s recent North Carolina investments include last year’s $17.4 billion acquisition of Wilmington-based PPD, a clinical research business, and a $500 million expansion plan in Greenville that was unveiled in late 2020. It followed up in Pitt County with another expansion announced in September that would increase its production of liquid, pre-filled syringes and solid-dose medications. The company also has operations in Asheville, Durham and High Point. It arrived in Greenville in 2017 via the $7.2 billion acquisition of Patheon.
16. (TIE) SMART WIRES
San Francisco, California
JOBS: 250
COUNTY: Durham
PROJECTED INVESTMENT: $21.5 million
NC CASH INCENTIVES: $2.82 million over 12 years
With wind and solar accounting for a growing share of electricity moving onto the grid, modern solutions are necessary for managing power flow. Smart Wires’ grid optimization technology was conceived after a 2003 blackout that left millions in the Northeast without power. Founded in 2010, the privately held company began searching for a new headquarters location once Bay Area cost-of-living factors made it hard to recruit workers. Company officials considered Austin, Atlanta and Denver before selecting Durham and its 50,000-square-foot space at Imperial Center.
16. (TIE) SCIENCE 37
Culver City, California / Raleigh
JOBS: 250
COUNTY: Wake
PROJECTED INVESTMENT: $1.5 million
NC CASH INCENTIVES: $3.34 million
The Triangle’s reputation as a clinical trials hotbed delivered another win with the announcement by Science 37 that it would consolidate its headquarters in Morrisville. The public company says its system of decentralized trials enables faster participant enrollment, greater diversity of patient populations and improved retention. Administrative, legal, HR and IT professionals will help comprise Science 37’s North Carolina workforce, earning average salaries of more than $114,000.
18. SERVICE OFFSITE SOLUTIONS
Raleigh
JOBS: 235
COUNTY: Lee
PROJECTED INVESTMENT: $11 million
NC CASH INCENTIVES: $2.05 million over 12 years
A 40-acre site north of Sanford will be home for a 240,000-square-foot factory that will produce residential frames for homes across the Carolinas. Service Offsite Solutions says its components reduce construction timetables by as much as 10 days. The firm was founded in Raleigh in 2020. Jobs will pay an average of about $50,500.
19. (TIE) BALL CORPORATION
Broomfield, Colorado
JOBS: 220
COUNTY: Cabarrus
PROJECTED INVESTMENT: $383.8 million
NC CASH INCENTIVES: $3.1 million over 12 years
In support of Red Bull and Rauch’s plan for a $740 million processing and canning project, Ball is creating an adjacent operation. Ball, which dates to the 1880s but no longer makes glass canning jars, produces aluminum beverage containers. It will supply cans to Red Bull and other regional customers. A scarcity of aluminum cans led to expansions in Europe, the United Kingdom, Pennsylvania and Kentucky over the past two years. The public company had a market cap of $24 billion in early June.
19. (TIE) TECHNIMARK
Asheboro
JOBS: 220
COUNTY: Randolph
PROJECTED INVESTMENT: $62 million
NC CASH INCENTIVES: $1.11 million over 12 years
Technimark manufactures injection-molded components for customers that include health care, consumer packaging and industrial buyers. The company, which Don Wellington founded in Asheboro in 1983, is acquiring a 204,000-square-foot building formerly occupied by a maker of medical kits. The space will enable Technimark to boost its health-care related business. Last year, New York City-based Oak Hill Capital bought control of the company, sharing ownership with Pritzker Private Capital and Technimark management.
21. HÄNS KISSLE 
Haverhill, Massachusetts
JOBS: 219
COUNTY: Gaston
PROJECTED INVESTMENT: $42 million
NC CASH INCENTIVES: $2.2 million over 12 years
Founded in 1984, Häns Kissle makes packaged salads, entrees, dips, and desserts for convenience stores, supermarkets and food-service enterprises. The private company based near Boston will build a 100,000-square-foot manufacturing site in Apple Creek Corporate Center, a 330-acre industrial site near Gastonia. Salaries will average about $42,000. The new operation will enable Häns Kissle to add market share in the Southeast.
22. GLEN RAVEN
Burlington
JOBS: 205
COUNTY: Warren
PROJECTED INVESTMENT: $82 million
NC CASH INCENTIVES: $1.5 million over two years
The Gant family has operated the company since 1880. It supplies fabric to commercial, industrial, military, marine trades and other buyers around the world. The Norlina plant produces Sunbrella, a synthetic yarn that is among the company’s signature products. Grants from the One North Carolina and Building Reuse programs are supporting the expansion, which involves new construction and the renovation of a 1970s-era plant.
23. (TIE) CORNING
Corning, New York
JOBS: 200
COUNTY: Catawba
PROJECTED INVESTMENT: $150 million
NC CASH INCENTIVES: $2 million over 12 years
Corning’s various North Carolina operations now employ 4,500 full-time workers. Its longtime partnership with AT&T is driving growth at Hickory’s Trivium Corporate Center, where it manufactures optical cable. The company became the first tenant at the 378-acre park in 2018, followed by American Fuji Seal, Cataler and Gusmer Enterprises. AT&T will utilize Corning fiber as it builds its 5G networks.
23. (TIE) JAGUAR GENE THERAPY
Lake Forest, Illinois
JOBS: 200
COUNTY: Durham
PROJECTED INVESTMENT: $125 million
NC CASH INCENTIVES: $2.36 million over 12 years
Jaguar Gene Therapy develops solutions to genetically determined diseases such as Type 1 diabetes and autism. Founded in 2019 by former AveXis executives, it has raised more than $140 million from Eli Lilly, Goldman Sachs and others. The company, which has another lab in Cary, will occupy 165,000 square feet in Research Triangle Park.
25. (TIE) NATURE’S VALUE
Coram, New York
JOBS: 183
COUNTY: Forsyth
PROJECTED INVESTMENT: $19 million
NC CASH INCENTIVES: $1.96 million over 12 years
Winston-Salem’s Whitaker Park will be home for the vitamin supplier’s 426,000-square-foot testing, production and distribution facility, which the Long Island-based company hopes to occupy by November. The manufacturer of dietary supplements and other products has a small site in nearby Lexington. It paid $10.5 million for its new building, which was once part of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco’s campus.
25. (TIE) SHERWIN-WILLIAMS 
Cleveland, Ohio
JOBS: 183
COUNTY: Iredell
PROJECTED INVESTMENT: $324 million
NC CASH INCENTIVES: $2.72 million over 12 years
North America’s largest retailer of paint and coating products will add 36,000 square feet to its Statesville manufacturing site and construct an 800,000-square-foot distribution and fleet transportation center. The expanded complex, which also is adding four new rail spurs, will help support Sherwin-Williams’ 4,500 company-owned stores. It employs 2,400 people in North Carolina and has operated the Statesville plant since 1993. More than $16 million in local incentives have been approved for the project.
