Charlotte-based manufacturer expanding operations, adding 200 jobs in NC

A Charlotte-based manufacturing business is investing $150 million in Catawba County, Gov. Roy Cooper announced Tuesday.

Corning Optical Communications will create 200 jobs and expand its current operations in Hickory. The average wage for the new jobs will be $55,000, above the Catawba County average of $43,920, Cooper’s announcement said.

Corning will receive about $2 million in state incentives for the expansion in the form of a 12-year, performance-based Job Development Investment Grant. The grant is dependent on the company meeting job creation and investment targets.

Corning Optical has its headquarters in Charlotte and facilities in a number of other N.C. cities, including Newton, Winston-Salem and Concord. The manufacturer is a division of New York-based Corning Inc., which builds glass components for fiber-optic cable and communications equipment.

Catawba County is ranked as a Tier 2 county by the N.C. Department of Commerce. In the department’s annual ranking, Tier 1 counties are marked as the most economically distressed in the state, while Tier 3 counties are the most well-off.

When companies expand in Tier 2 counties, the state grant agreement moves some of the new tax revenue into a fund designed to help rural N.C. communities attract more businesses, according to the release from the governor’s office.

Hickory is about an hour north of Charlotte.

Other expansions near Charlotte

The Charlotte region has attracted a number of economic development projects in recent months.

On July 14, beverage manufacturers Red Bull and Rauch announced a $740 million investment in a new facility in Concord at the site of the old Phillip Morris plant.

The project will create more than 400 jobs in the area, Cooper has said, and is the largest economic development in Cabarrus County’s history.

Shortly afterward, global compact equipment manufacturer Doosan Bobcat began construction of a $70 million manufacturing campus in Statesville.

And last month, North Dakota manufacturer Steffes received an economic incentives package worth $1.6 million to invest in a Cleveland County site. The company is investing $20.9 million into upfitting a facility in Shelby, creating 130 new jobs.