Amgen will expand its biologics manufacturing operation in Holly Springs, North Carolina, creating 370 additional jobs.
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The company intends to invest $1 billion in Wake County.
Founded in 1980 in Thousand Oaks, California, Amgen today serves millions of patients around the world suffering from serious illnesses such as cancer and heart disease. Amgen is one of the 30 companies that comprise the Dow Jones Industrial Average, with more than 27,000 employees worldwide.
The company’s project in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina establishes a second drug substance manufacturing facility on its campus, helping the company satisfy long-term growth projections and most importantly, better serve patients in need of life-saving medicines.
Amgen’s project in North Carolina will be facilitated, in part, by a Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) approved by the state’s Economic Investment Committee.
Over the course of the 12-year term of this grant, economists in the Department of Commerce estimate the project will grow the state’s economy by $3.59 billion.
Using a formula that takes into account the new tax revenues generated by the new jobs, and a capital investment of $1.01 billion, the JDIG agreement authorizes the potential reimbursement to the company of up to $4,893,750, spread over 12 years.
The project's projected return on investment of public dollars is 205 per cent, meaning for every dollar of potential cost, the state receives $3.05 in state revenue.
State payments only occur following performance verification by the departments of Commerce and Revenue that the company has met its incremental job creation and investment targets.
JDIG projects result in positive net tax revenue to the state treasury, even after taking into consideration the grant’s reimbursement payments to a given company.
Amgen’s JDIG agreement could also move as much as $1,631,250 into a fund that helps rural communities across the state attract business in the future.
When companies select a site located in a Tier 3 county such as Wake, their JDIG agreements move some of the new tax revenue into the state’s Industrial Development Fund – Utility Account.
Local communities in more economically challenged areas of the state use grants from the Utility Account to build public infrastructure projects, which can improve a community’s ability to attract companies to their regions.
Partnering with the North Carolina Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership of N.C. on this project were the North Carolina General Assembly, the North Carolina Community College System, the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, N.C. Commerce’s Division of Workforce Solutions, North Carolina State University, Wake Tech, Capital Area Workforce Development. the Town of Holly Springs, Wake County, and Wake County Economic Development, a program of the Raleigh Chamber. ■