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North Carolina

Agriculture is North Carolina's number one industry. The Tar Heel State is one of the most diversified agriculture states in the nation with its concentration of food, fiber and forestry facilities, contributing more than $46 billion annually to the state's economy. Research Triangle Park in the Raleigh-Durham area has a worldwide reputation as a center of high technology. And that's not likely to change any time soon, thanks to its proximity to several universities, including Duke University and North Carolina State University.

Nitronex Corp., a leading developer of gallium nitride PENDEO (tm) material used in wafer fabrication, recently announced a new and expanded headquarters in Raleigh. The new facility will accommodate expansion of its R&D, sales, marketing and support operations.

Nitronex is the first start-up company to "graduate" from the small business incubator at North Carolina State's Centennial Campus, a 1,000-acre (405-ha.) research park. The small incubator that opened in September 1999 was developed and is managed by the N.C. Technological Development Authority. It offers furnished office and laboratory suites for start-up companies. The university wants Centennial Campus to become a "technopolis" of university, corporate and government R&D facilities and business incubators.

DuPont is expanding its Bladen County facility, investing up to $275 million over the next seven years based on the success of new technology that will be evaluated in a $40 million development facility. The expansion has its ties to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which helped develop the new Teflon production process. This process is expected to lower operating costs, reduce investment per pound of product and provide environmental enhancements.

"North Carolina is the perfect location for this expansion," says Richard Angiullo, DuPont's vice president of operations. "This is the first step toward developing new products for some of our rapidly growing markets and for future collaborations with UNC-Chapel Hill and North Carolina-based technology."

"This is an ideal location for our advanced production facility," says Jeff Lamb, Saiden general manager. "It is close to the high technology concentration of the Research Triangle, and it has excellent accessibility to major highways, railways and international airports."

Foreign companies invested nearly $911 million in North Carolina in 1999. Nearly 160 of those are Japanese corporations that have invested more than $2.8 billion and created over 15,000 jobs in the state since the early 1980s.

High-tech investment expands beyond the Raleigh-Durham and surrounding area. In April, Corning announced the expansion of two of its optic fiber manufacturing capabilities, bringing $550 million in investment and 500 jobs to Concord, in Cabarrus County, and $100 million in investment to Wilmington, in New Hanover County. The commitment is the state's largest single business investment announcement ever.