Investor Watch: March 21, 2022 - Site Selection Magazine

FROM SITE SELECTION MAGAZINE, MARCH 2022 ISSUE

DATA CENTERS

Remarkable Growth in a Remarkable Time

Exclusive insights from the author of Cushman & Wakefield’s 2022 Global Data Center Market Comparison

HAMPTON ROADS INTELLIGENCE REPORT

Offshore Wind: The Teeth of the Matter

Offshore wind is the test case for a promising model of economic development.

HAMPTON ROADS INTELLIGENCE REPORT

Workforce Development: Base Commitment

Military veterans and higher education combine to differentiate the Hampton Roads workforce.

INVESTMENT PROFILE: HOOSIER ENERGY

Getting Chippy in Indiana

An unlikely naval base joins the battle to boost microelectronics.

EVENTS

OREGON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GUIDE

PORTS

Bridges to Prosperity

This family of ports helps Oregon’s economy stay on the move.

OUTDOOR GEAR & APPAREL

Creature Comforts

Ruffwear leads a pack of Oregon outfitters.

PROJECT WATCH

France (and Germany, Italy, Poland, etc.)

A new European R&D hub near Plateau de Saclay will become Intel’s European HQ for high performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) design capabilities, with 450 of the 1,000 jobs projected to be filled by 2024. “HPC and AI innovation will benefit a broad set of industry sectors, including automotive, agriculture, climate, drug discovery, energy, genomics, life sciences and security — greatly improving the life of every European,” said the company last week as it announced a family of EU investments amounting to an initial €33 billion. This first tranche of an expected 80 billion spend includes plans to invest 17 billion in a semiconductor fab mega-site in Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany — a location well known to Site Selection readers. “Our planned investments are a major step both for Intel and for Europe,” said Pat Gelsinger, CEO of Intel. “The EU Chips Act will empower private companies and governments to work together to drastically advance Europe’s position in the semiconductor sector.”

Source: Conway Analytics

Bulgaria

As reported by SeeNews, Bulgarian News Service and others, German robotics and automation technology company Festo’s Festo Production unit in Bulgaria is investing 20 million levs (US$11.2 million/€10.2 million) in purchasing machines and equipment for its plant in Sofia, where headcount will increase by more than 30% this year, according to the country’s innovation ministry. The company primarily makes automation components, flow and pressure sensors, connecting cables and electrical drives. Festo Production, which also operates a technical engineering center in Sofia with over 100 employees, already employs more than 1,200 people in Bulgaria, including more than 250 recruited in the past year.

Source: Conway Analytics

SITE SELECTION RECOMMENDS

This map shows the locations of all federal Opportunity Zones in the United States.

Map courtesy of HUD and Esri

The most recent intelligence on federal Opportunity Zones (OZs) includes the Novogradac Opportunity Zones Investment Report based on data through 2021 on 1,342 qualified opportunity funds (QOFs), of which 978 reported a specific amount of equity raised by the end of 2021. Among its findings, reported equity investment in QOFs increased by nearly $7 billion in the final six months of 2021 — a 39.3% increase from midyear. “Our report shows that 20 cities have at least $200 million in planned QOF investment and 41 cities have at least $100 million in planned investment,” said John Sciarretti, CPA, a partner in Novogradac’s Dover, Ohio, office and head of the Opportunity Zones Working Group. “The top 40 cities for investment are in 23 states, plus Washington, D.C.”

For more recent insights and data on OZs, read Site Selection’s recently published adaptation of a chapter from Pulitzer Prize winner David Wessel’s book “Only the Rich Can Play: How Washington Works In the New Gilded Age.” Check out the recent effort from Good Jobs First, “Mapping Amazon,” which shows that at least 170 of Amazon’s newest or soon-to-open warehouses are located in OZs. And learn from OpportunityDb about a new measure passed by the Ohio State Senate that doubles the amount of state tax credits OZ investors can receive, while also making it easier to transfer tax credits.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Managing Editor Adam Bruns made this photo of tulips at the Atlanta Botanical Garden at Piedmont Park in downtown Atlanta on Sunday, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere.