The status of North Carolina's post-2020 economic development boom

Between the lines: Corporate relocations slowed significantly last year, according to a report from the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina.

Driving the news: On Monday, one of the state's most prized jobs announcements since the pandemic — Apple's planned Research Triangle Park campus — was the latest to show signs of trouble.

• The company told the state it needed to delay its plans by up to four years, though it promised it was still committed to the area.
• North Carolina's state and local governments only pay out incentives if companies meet their hiring and investment goals — though in some cases the state makes upfront investments into infrastructure needs, like road and sewer improvements.

State of play: Here's where some of the largest incentives-backed projects announced since 2020 stand:

VinFast

The Vietnamese EV maker was the largest jobs project announced in the state since the pandemic, when it pledged in 2022 to create 7,500 jobs in Chatham County.

• But construction on its potential factory, which could be in line for more than $1.2 billion in state and local incentives, has been delayed twice already and downsized.

• It's unclear when construction could begin.

Threat level: The company has lost billions of dollars already and interest in VinFast cars remains low in the U.S.

• The company sold fewer than 1,000 cars in North America last year, an investigation by Hunterbrook Media found last month. More than 70% of the 35,000 vehicles it delivered last year were to companies owned by VinFast's CEO, according to Reuters.

Toyota

Toyota announced plans to build its first U.S. battery plant in Randolph County in 2021 — an investment that could land the company at least $400 million in tax incentives.

So far, construction on the plant appears to be on track, and the company has increased its investment in the site — saying last year it would put another $8 billion into the project and employ more than 5,000 people.

• Earlier this year, Gov. Roy Cooper and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida toured the construction site together.

Centene

In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, the health insurance company Centene said it would establish a new East Coast headquarters and tech hub in Charlotte and create 3,200 jobs there.

• But just two years later, the company called off the expansion, citing remote work as a reason, and left a new office campus empty.
• The financial services firm Vanguard bought the sprawling campus earlier this year.

Apple

Apple told Axios it's still committed to building an "East Coast HQ" in Research Triangle Park that could ultimately employ 3,000 people.

• But the timeline on the potential half-a-billion-dollar campus, announced in 2021, is now stretching further out, with the company seeking an extension of its terms with the state.
• Apple could land more than $800 million in tax incentives if it meets hiring goals. So far, the company says, it has hired more than 600 workers locally, many working at a subleased MetLife tower in Cary.

Threat level: Apple is already taking advantage of the weak office market in the Triangle by subleasing space from other companies — it could save significant money sticking with that strategy.

• The company has also experienced sluggish iPhone sales in China recently and faces an antitrust charge in Europe.

Wolfspeed

Durham semiconductor firm Wolfspeed's 2022 decision to build a new plant in Chatham County was one of the state's largest-ever economic development projects, promising 1,800 jobs and a $5 billion investment.

• Construction on the project remains on track, with the company celebrating "topping off" its new facility in March, The News & Observer reported.

Threat level: Wolfspeed's semiconductors are used in electric vehicles, and the company has benefited from the growth of that industry.

• But growth expectations around EVs have moderated, and an activist investor has questioned the company's investments amid a declining stock price, Reuters reported.

Boom

Boom Supersonic was a relatively unknown startup trying to resurrect supersonic jet travel when the state signed an incentives agreement with it in 2021 to create 1,750 jobs here by 2030.

• This month, it finished construction on its first factory in Greensboro, with additional facilities planned at Piedmont Triad International Airport.

Threat level: It remains to be seen, however, if Boom can complete its first supersonic jets by the end of the decade, and, if it does, whether there will be enough demand for the supersonic flights to support the company's business.

• It does, however, have purchasing agreements in place with United Airlines and American Airlines.

Fujifilm Diosynth

Fujifilm Diosynth, a Japanese biomanufacturing company, is another pandemic-era jobs announcement that has doubled down on North Carolina in recent months.

In 2021, the company pledged to build a $1.5 billion vaccine-and-drugs plant that would create more than 700 jobs in Holly Springs.

• In April, it said it would invest an additional $1.2 billion and create 680 more jobs at its under-construction facility.
• The company could get more than $190 million worth of tax incentives from the state and local governments if it meets hiring goals.

Bandwidth

Raleigh communications software firm Bandwidth set an ambitious goal of hiring more than 1,000 new workers and building a new $100 million headquarters in 2020.

• Four years later, it did build that state-of-the-art campus near PNC Arena, but it hasn't yet reached its expected hiring numbers.
• The company pulled out of its incentives agreement with the state in January, saying it needed more flexibility to hire outside of the Raleigh area.

BioAgilytix Labs

In 2020, BioAgilytix, a company that does clinical research, said it would create nearly 900 jobs in Durham in exchange for incentives.

But that project never met those goals, with BioAgilytix exiting the agreement earlier this year and the company blaming a downturn in biotech funding for not meeting its growth targets.

• Still, the company grew its headcount in Durham from 350 workers to 523, The News & Observer reported.