Amgen Inc., the pioneering biotechnology company, will build a new biologics manufacturing operation in Holly Springs, creating 355 jobs, Governor Roy Cooper announced today. The company intends to invest $550 million in Wake County.
"World-class companies like Amgen are very selective when they evaluate business locations and they only choose places that provide the best support for their operations,” said Governor Cooper. “Today’s decision proves once again that North Carolina remains a premier location for the most innovative biotech companies in the industry.”
Founded in 1980 in Thousand Oaks, California, Amgen today serves millions of patients around the world suffering from serious illnesses such as cancer and heart disease. Amgen is one of the 30 companies that comprise the Dow Jones Industrial Average, with more than 24,000 employees worldwide, including more than 14,000 in the United States. The company’s new site in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina will bring a biologics drug substance manufacturing plant online to help the company continue to meet the production demands for its life-saving medicines.
“Amgen is investing in a technologically-advanced drug substance plant in North Carolina to support the expected increase in demand for our medicines. Together with the previously announced advanced packaging plant in Ohio, we have committed to investing nearly $1 billion in new manufacturing capacity in the United States,” said Amgen Executive Vice President of Operations Esteban Santos.
“It’s exciting to see the industry where I spent much of my career become such a vital economic engine for our state,” said North Carolina Commerce Secretary Machelle Baker Sanders. “As the state’s new First in Talent strategic plan makes clear, developing and maintaining a skilled and diverse workforce will lead to more economic growth and great decisions like Amgen’s choice today.”
Although specific wages will vary depending on job role, the aggregate average salary of the new positions is anticipated to reach $119,510, bringing $42.4 million of annual payroll growth to the region. The current average wage in Wake County stands at $63,966.
The Amgen facility in North Carolina will be built to exacting environmental standards, consistent with the company’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality, reduce water use by 40% and waste disposal by 75% by 2027. The facility also will support Amgen’s participation as a founding member of OneTen, a coalition of many of the world’s largest, best-known companies that aims collectively to hire one million Black Americans into well-paying jobs over the next ten years, with a specific focus on those without a four-year college degree
Amgen’s project in North Carolina will be facilitated, in part, by a Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) approved by the state’s Economic Investment Committee earlier today. Over the course of the 12-year term of this grant, economists in the Department of Commerce estimate the project will grow the state’s economy by $2.5 billion. Using a formula that takes into account the new tax revenues generated by the new jobs, the JDIG agreement authorizes the potential reimbursement to the company of up to $11,612,250, spread over 12 years, based on a required capital investment of $380.5 million. Over those 12 years, new state tax revenues generated by the new jobs will exceed $63.6 million.
State payments only occur following performance verification by the departments of Commerce and Revenue that the company has met its incremental job creation and investment targets. JDIG projects result in positive net tax revenue to the state treasury, even after taking into consideration the grant’s reimbursement payments to a given company.
Amgen’s JDIG agreement could also move as much as $3,870,750 into a fund that helps rural communities across the state attract business in the future. When companies select a site located in a Tier 3 county such as Wake, their JDIG agreements move some of the new tax revenue into the state’s Industrial Development Fund – Utility Account. Local communities in more economically challenged areas of the state use grants from the Utility Account to build public infrastructure projects, which can improve a community’s ability to attract companies to their regions.
“Amgen is one of the world’s leading independent biotech companies,” said N.C. Representative Gale Adcock. “It’s great to see Holly Springs and Wake County rise to the top as one of the premier locations for biomanufacturing in the world.”
“Hard work, dedication, and a commitment to make the necessary preparations in our community have paid off in a big way today,” said N.C. Senator Sydney Batch. “Everyone in Holly Springs and Wake County will continue to support Amgen and its new employees as the company works to open its new facility in our region.”
Partnering with the North Carolina Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership of N.C. on this project were the North Carolina General Assembly, the North Carolina Department of Transportation, the North Carolina Community College System, the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, Duke Energy, Dominion Energy, North Carolina State University, North Carolina Central University, the Capital Area Workforce Development Board, Wake Technical Community College, the Town of Holly Springs, Wake County and Wake County Economic Development, a program of the Raleigh Chamber.
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