RTP-based Vulcan Elements says it’s going to build a $1 billion magnet factory in Johnston County, pledging to create 1,000 new jobs.
To secure the project, state and local governments put together a $120.1 million incentives package. The largest components are $52.1 million and $42.6 million in givebacks from Johnston County and Benson, respectively. Benson is about 30 miles south of Raleigh.
Officials say the incentives helped beat Ohio for a factory critical to the country’s hopes of nailing down a domestic supply chain for a key piece of technology.
Vulcan’s investment is “going to have a global impact as they become the first completely domestic producer of magnets needed for data centers, robotics, semiconductors, cars and the new economy,” said state Sen. Benton Sawrey, R-Johnston.
The company intends to make neodymium iron boron magnets, for uses that also include military applications. CEO and co-founder, John Maslin, worked in finance for the U.S. Navy’s nuclear propulsion program from 2016 to 2022.
Neodymium, one of the so-called “rare earth” elements, is typically found in combination with other materials.
China’s place in the supply chain for rare earths — and in the supply chain for neodymium iron boron magnets — has been a concern among federal officials for years.
It “dominates each of the major stages in the supply chain,” a 2022 U.S. Department of Energy report says. “Even more significantly, this concentration of production in China increases at every downstream stage, rising from a 58% share of annual global rare earth mining in 2020 to a 92% share of annual global magnet production, the stage with the highest added value.”
The Trump administration is backing Vulcan’s expansion via a $620 million loan from the U.S. Department of Defense and $50 million in incentives from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
In return, the feds are taking a $50 million equity stake in the company, an approach to industrial policy that has drawn some bipartisan criticism.
North Carolina’s incentive package includes a $17.6 million Job Development Investment Grant, $3 million from the Golden LEAF Foundation, about $2 million in worker-recruiting help, $1.8 million in community college training aid, $500,000 in N.C. Department of
Transportation roadwork subsidies, and $250,000 in legislative appropriations.
Johnston County’s economic development arm is also kicking in $250,000.State and local incentives pay out only if a company delivers on its job-creation and investment incentives. The deal with Vulcan requires the company to spend $918.1 million by 2029.
Vulcan’s plan envisions upfitting and expanding an existing 500,000 square foot building on the eastern edge of Benson near Interstates 95 and 40.
The result should be a 1 million square foot factory capable of producing 10,000 metric tons (11,023 short tons) of magnets a year, state Commerce Department officials say.Vulcan also looked at sites in Oklahoma, but Ohio emerged as North Carolina’s top competitor for the project and offered “a highly competitive” incentives deal of its own, officials said.
