Siemens Energy is spending $421 million and adding about 500 jobs to expand operations in Charlotte, Raleigh and Rural Hall as construction of data centers nationwide spurs electricity demand.
The investment in the production of gas turbines and other energy infrastructure equipment in North Carolina is part of the $1 billion the Munich, Germany-based company is spending in the U.S. It’s adding more than 1,500 jobs nationwide.
The company now employs 2,300 people statewide.
The spending reflects the nation’s “unprecedented growth in energy,” Matt Neal, Siemens Energy’s president of North America, said in a statement today. Electricity demand from U.S. data centers is projected to double by 2035, according to energy researcher BloombergNEF, with the impact on grids akin to the advent of air conditioning in the 1960s.
“The U.S. is the hottest electricity market at the moment in the world,” Siemens Energy CEO Christian Bruch said in an interview with Bloomberg. “The Trump administration’s push for data centers and speeding that up” is helping to drive demand.
North Carolina Commerce Secretary Lee Lilley cited the state’s commitment to customized workforce training programs in attracting expansion by companies such as Siemens, which has operated in the state since 1957.
The upsurge in electricity demand is shaping Siemens Energy’s expansion in Charlotte. At the Mecklenburg plant, it’s ending a six-year pause on the manufacture of gas turbines, a move that reflected low worldwide demand for the equipment and focused turbine production in Berlin, Germany.
Instead of manufacturing, the Charlotte facility serviced gas turbines already installed in the U.S. With the resumption of production, it plans to start shipping its first turbines in the next two to three years.
The investment builds upon the company’s announcement in 2024 it is spending $150 million in Charlotte to manufacture large power transformers.
The company also announced investments in Mississippi, Alabama, New York, Texas and Florida. Spun off from Siemens AG in 2020, Siemens Energy has more than $40 billion in annual revenue and a backlog of more than $160 billion. It operates as an independent publicly traded company on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
