Texas-based computer giant Dell Inc. will build a manufacturing plant in the Piedmont Triad, Gov. Mike Easley announced Tuesday. The state's Department of Commerce projects the facility will directly create 1,500 jobs and lead to at least 4,500 more.
Texas-based computer giant Dell Inc. will build a manufacturing plant in the Piedmont Triad, Gov. Mike Easley announced Tuesday. The state’s Department of Commerce projects the facility will directly create 1,500 jobs and lead to at least 4,500 more.
According to a press release from the governor’s office, the project will have a $25.5 billion impact on the state’s economy over the next two decades, and Dell’s new plant will bring $743 million in revenue to North Carolina.
“Dell’s decision to locate in North Carolina means thousands of jobs are headed to the Piedmont Triad, bringing better benefits and skills to an area hit hard by job loss due to federal trade policies,” Easley said in a statement. “In addition to providing much-needed jobs, the Dell project... makes good economic sense for North Carolina when our workers need help the most.”
Dell, which currently sells more than 15 percent of the world’s computers, will build the 400,000-square-foot facility in the Triad, raising its total number of U.S. factories to three.
Easley pushed an incentive package worth more than $240 million through the state legislature in a special session Thursday. Both the state House and Senate passed a bill granting Dell $225 million in tax credits spread over the next 15 years by a significant margin. Dell will also receive a $14.1 million Job Development Incentive Grant during the next 12 years.
“It’s not only economically good policy,” Easley said. “It is morally incomprehensible not to do it.”
Experts on North Carolina’s economy say that this move will help the struggling Triad area, which includes Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point. In 2002, far-reaching plant closings by Pillowtex, a home fashions furnishing and textile manufacturer, cost 5,500 jobs in North Carolina alone.
“Given the fact that the economic base, particularly in that area... had depended on textiles and tobacco, this is probably a big plus,” said Robert Korstad, associate professor of public policy.
Dell officials said North Carolina is an ideal fit for their company, which currently employs 50,000 worldwide.
“The education system, commitment to businesses and proximity to a large and growing base of Dell customers were important in our decision to expand into North Carolina,” Dell CEO Kevin Rollins said in a statement. Rollins referred to the new plan as “an economic development partnership that brings jobs to North Carolina and supports Dell’s continued growth.”
Korstad said numbers such as those cited in the governor’s release can be deceptive in cases where the facility is being built to compensate for the shutdown or reduction of another plant. In that case, a portion of the added workforce would likely consist of workers relocated from the previous facility, rather than native North Carolinians.
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