Investor Watch: March 27, 2023 - Site Selection Magazine

FROM SITE SELECTION MAGAZINE, MARCH 2023 ISSUE

GEORGIA

The Korean Connection

Georgia’s pursuit of South Korean manufacturers pays off as a new era of innovation unfolds. What does this painting have to do with it? Read on.

After reading this Site Selection story about his company’s $5.5 billion metaplant in Georgia, Hyundai President and Global COO José Muñoz said on LinkedIn, “The painting referenced in the story hangs in my office and of course I still proudly wear my Hyundai backpack! Looking forward to our next visit to Georgia.”

DUKE ENERGY FLORIDA

The Duke Energy Florida Investment Report

A legacy of economic development that goes back nearly 125 years is only growing stronger in Duke Energy Florida territory. Find out more in:

COLORADO – BUSINESS COMES TO LIFE 2023

QUALITY OF LIFE

Painting a Picture of Success

Trinidad, Colorado’s art industries foster a cultural hub that’s a hit with creatives, entrepreneurs and, possibly, big industry.

PROJECT WATCH

South Carolina

Even as Vietnam’s VinFast, a maker of EVs, has pushed back the start of production by a year at its first U.S. plant in neighboring North Carolina, Tin Thanh Group Americas, a Vietnamese tire manufacturer, has announced plans to establish its own first U.S. operations in Fairfax, South Carolina, located in Allendale County. The company will manufacture and retread large commercial vehicle tires and operate its commercial tire leasing program from the new facility. Operations are expected to be online by September 2024. The state’s Coordinating Council for Economic Development approved job development credits related to the project and also awarded a $1 million Rural Infrastructure Fund (RIF) grant to Allendale County to assist with the costs of site preparation and infrastructure improvements. “Tin Thanh Group Americas is excited to make South Carolina home for its first location outside Vietnam and is proud to be South Carolina’s first Vietnamese company,” said Tin Thanh Group Americas CEO Dinh Quyen. “With the assistance of the Department of Commerce, the SouthernCarolina Alliance and the officials at Allendale County, and the assistance of readySC, the decision was clear compared with the other locations that sought our project in the Southeast.”

Source: Conway Projects Report

Iowa

Last week Summit Materials, Inc., in partnership with its subsidiary Continental Cement Company, LLC, announced the official opening of the Davenport Cement Storage Dome, the largest cement storage dome in North America, with storage capacity of 125,000 tons of cement. “The dome substantially reduces the need for winter storage barges and provides a safer, more efficient operation, reducing barge storage costs and helping Summit more effectively serve its valued customers,” the company said. “Summit and Continental Cement’s investment into this project reaffirms their long-term commitment to the Great State of Iowa, the Quad Cities, the City of Buffalo, and the 119 employees at Summit’s Davenport plant.” Anne Noonan, CEO of Summit, said the dome “helps strengthen our enduring and trusted customer relationships in all markets, particularly in Iowa and Missouri, where we have our major production assets.” Summit is the first cement producer in the United States to convert all cement production to PLC, a lower carbon product. “Our existing replacement rate of using alternative fuels rather than coal is amongst the highest in the industry, and to further increase this important part of our carbon reduction commitment, we are investing another $32 million in expanding our Green America Recycling operation, allowing the cement plant to replace approximately 55% of its fossil fuel consumption with non-hazardous waste,” Noonan said.

Source: Conway Projects Report

KENTUCKY — WHERE TRADITION MEETS INNOVATION

BOURBON BOOM

A New Take on Tradition

Having passed the pandemic slump, bourbon production and tourism soar to new heights.

SITE SELECTION RECOMMENDS

First Solar, Inc., the only U.S.-headquartered company among the world’s largest solar manufacturers, is investing $1.3 billion at sites in Ohio and Alabama as it ramps up toward U.S. manufacturing capacity of over 10 gigawatts by 2025.

Photo courtesy of First Solar

The Solar Energy Industries Association this month published a paper that, among other findings, claims that by 2030 the Inflation Reduction Act will help “grow the solar and storage manufacturing workforce to 115,000 Americans and lead to more than 507,000 jobs across the entire industry.” The report also documents what the SEIA says is the industry’s manufacturing renaissance as it transitions its supply chain away from China, including an online chart filled with 181 project announcements.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Last week Cleveland Clinic and IBM officially unveiled the first deployment of an onsite private-sector IBM-managed quantum computer in the United States. The IBM Quantum System One (pictured) installed at Cleveland Clinic “will be the first quantum computer in the world to be uniquely dedicated to healthcare research with an aim to help Cleveland Clinic accelerate biomedical discoveries,” the companies said. “The unveiling comes as a key milestone in Cleveland Clinic’s and IBM’s 10-year Discovery Accelerator partnership, announced in 2021, which is focused on advancing the pace of biomedical research through the use of high-performance computing, artificial intelligence and quantum computing.”

The Discovery Accelerator serves as the technology foundation for Cleveland Clinic’s Global Center for Pathogen & Human Health Research, part of the Cleveland Innovation District. The center, supported by a $500 million investment from the State of Ohio, Jobs Ohio and Cleveland Clinic, brings together a team focused on studying, preparing and protecting against emerging pathogens and virus-related diseases.