Live Updates: Biden touts North Carolina’s role in US manufacturing

President Joe Biden has left Research Triangle Park, where he touted his national economic agenda at one of the Triangle’s largest employers.

Biden toured the Durham campus of the semiconductor chip manufacturer Wolfspeed, which has ambitious growth plans both globally and in North Carolina.

Wolfspeed makes semiconductors, the devices needed for everything from phones to aircraft. The company specializes in — and dominates the market for — an efficient kind of semiconductor that is important for a range of uses, including for electric vehicles. China controls much of the rest of the supply chain for electric cars, so the company is significant for Biden’s efforts to make sure domestic manufacturing can compete with China.

READ MORE: As Biden visits, the Durham chip manufacturer Wolfspeed sees the sky as the limit

Durham is Biden’s inaugural stop on his administration’s three-week “Investing in America” tour.

3:22 p.m.: Biden ends with another NC shoutout

Biden has finished his remarks, but not before again trumpeting North Carolina’s role in domestic manufacturing.

The president specifically gave a nod to two future Chatham County facilities: Wolfspeed’s materials factory and VinFast’s car and battery plant..

“Right here in America, here in North Carolina, we’re making chips that go into electric vehicles,” he said. “These vehicles are powered by batteries and critical minerals that we’re making here in North Carolina. We’re making electric vehicles here in North Carolina. That’s what invest means.”

3:11 p.m.: ‘Hell of a lot more than light bulbs now’

Wolfspeed has made a major pivot in recent years, a change President Joe Biden noted Tuesday.

In 2010, then-Vice President Biden toured Wolfspeed, which operated by the name Cree at the time. At the time, Cree was primarily focused on its lighting and LED divisions.

Wolfspeed has since sold these divisions to focus exclusively on making silicon carbide materials and chips.

“Hell of a lot more than light bulbs now,” Biden said.

2:54 p.m.: Biden opens with plea for gun reform

Speaking a day after a school attacker shot and killed three children and three adults at a private school in Nashville, Biden opened his speech at Wolfspeed to call on Congress to reinstate a ban on semiautomatic guns classified as assault weapons.

“We owe these families more than our prayers,” he said, later adding, “why in God’s name do we allow these weapons of war on our streets and in our schools?”

The victims of the school shooting were 9-year-olds Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney and three adults, Cynthia Peak, Katherine Koonce and Mike Hill, news outlets including ABC News reported.

2:42 p.m.: Cooper brings out his campaign voice

Gov. Cooper may not be able to run for governor again, but he appeared to be helping President Biden campaign for reelection on Tuesday.

“The President has delivered,” Cooper said before rattling off legislative accomplishments since 2021.

“He has done more in two years, than many presidents would have aspired to do in eight,” Cooper said to applause from the crowd.

2:34 p.m.: Durham mayor highlights Durham Tech

A procession of public officials are now making comments to the gathered crowd, including Gov. Roy Cooper and Durham Mayor Elaine O’Neal.

O’Neal used her time at the podium to applaud the partnership between Wolfspeed and Durham Technical Community College to prepare future workers.

“For more than 20 years, the two have worked together to develop customized training that increases the number of technicians and advances the career opportunities of our residents,” she said.

In 2020, Durham Tech teamed with Wolfspeed to design a customized training program.

“Durham Tech is proud to continue to help Wolfspeed develop and grow its workforce as the company prepares to open its new facility in Chatham County,” Durham Tech spokesperson Nancy Wykle said in a statement Monday. “We continue to explore ways we can partner further to benefit the company and provide our students with a great career opportunity in a growing, dynamic industry sector.”

2:26 p.m.: Biden meets union workers

President Biden was outside for the second stop on his Wolfspeed tour. Biden greeted a row of IBEW union workers, who thanked him. The president highlighted the number of manufacturing jobs created in his first two years in office.

2:15 p.m.: Lab tour

Biden toured the company’s Power Applications Lab, viewing and handling semiconductor materials and meeting employees.

2:05 p.m.: Biden touring Wolfspeed

President Joe Biden’s motorcade arrived at Wolfspeed in Research Triangle Park at 1:40 p.m.

Biden is seeing a demonstration of the company’s technology.

2 p.m.: Biden commented on gun violence on his way to NC

President Joe Biden’s visit to North Carolina comes as the nation reels from another mass shooting, this time at a private Christian grade school in Nashville, Tennessee.

Biden was asked before his departure from the White House on Tuesday if he plans to take any action on gun violence.

“I have gone the full extent of my executive authority to do, on my own, anything about guns,” the Democratic president said, according to a White House transcript.

“The Congress has to act,” he went on to say. “The majority of the American people think having assault weapons is bizarre; it’s a crazy idea. They’re against that. And so, I think the Congress should be passing the assault weapons ban. I want to remind you, the last time we passed the assault weapons ban, violent shootings went down, mass shootings went down.

“So I can’t do anything except plead with the Congress to act reasonably.”

1:50 p.m.: ‘This company is home-grown’

Wolfspeed was born on the campus of N.C. State University.

In the late 1980s, a group of graduate students were working under a grant from the Office of Naval Research to study a unique type of semiconducting material called silicon carbide. In 1987, the five students and one other person created Cree to commercialize what they’d discovered.

Today called Wolfspeed, the company is the world leader in silicon carbide manufacturing.

“If we’re dependent on Asia for chips, we’re going to be in trouble,” John Edmond, Wolfspeed co-founder, said in an interview. “You can have supply chain issues, (as seen) in this 100-year pandemic that just occurred.”

“We’ve always manufactured in the U.S.,” he said. “This company is home-grown, North Carolina, N.C. State, and to grow it is the right thing to do, and so that’s what we’re doing.”

1:40 p.m.: Biden greeted by Cooper, Durham officials at airport

Biden is on the way to Research Triangle Park.

Air Force One touched down at Raleigh-Durham International Airport at 1:06 p.m., according to a White House press pool report. Gov. Roy Cooper, Durham County Commissioners Chair Brenda Howerton and Durham Mayor Elaine O’Neal greeted Biden as he left the plane at 1:20 p.m.

Traveling with Biden are Secretary Gina Raimondo of the Department of Commerce and Reps. Valerie Foushee and Wiley Nickel, among others.

1 p.m.: What Democrats and Republicans say

Ahead of the president’s visit, the state’s competing political parties — predictably — released conflicting comments.

“President Biden’s economic plan prioritizes American manufacturers like Wolfspeed, which will put more money into the pockets of North Carolina families with record job growth, strengthen our supply chains, and drive our clean energy future,” the North Carolina Democratic Party said in a statement Tuesday.

The North Carolina Republican Party tweeted: “Dems struggle to sell an ‘America First’ policy as if it’s an original idea, while NC families struggle under the reality of Democrats’ hyper-spending, Big Government policies - inflated prices and diminished hopes.”

This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work.