Aerospace materials provider ATI is considering a $300 million expansion in Monroe. ATI hopes to make a site selection decision in time for the new capacity to be online in the second half of 2027.

The Charlotte Business Journal reports Project Seven would see ATI invest $200 million to build and equip a new 172,000-square-foot production facility on its Monroe campus off Goldmine Road. That facility would create 70 precision manufacturing jobs. 

Monroe City Council approved a $3.74 million economic development incentive grant for Project Seven at its April 28 meeting.

ATI is also investing $100 million in a new 100,000-square-foot facility through Project Nickel. That facility would create 60 precision manufacturing jobs. It would go on its existing Bakers campus off North Rock River Road in Monroe. 

Council approved a $1.87 million economic development incentive grant for the project at the same meeting. It also approved an annexation request for that project. 

Crystal Window & Door Systems, a manufacturer of replacement and new construction windows, plans to establish manufacturing operations in Selma at the Eastfield Crossings development. The $83.6 million project is expected to create 501 jobs. Selma is 30 miles SE of Raleigh.

The new Johnston County facility will specialize in aluminum and vinyl extrusion and window and door fabrication, with in-house finishing capabilities such as powder coating paint. It’s expected to take up 240,000 square feet on 42 acres. Production should begin at the facility in late 2025 or early 2026.

The project is being supported, in part, by a Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) approved by the state’s Economic Investment Committee. The project’s projected return on investment of public dollars is 81 percent, meaning for every dollar of potential cost to the state, the state receives $1.81 in state revenue. JDIG projects result in positive net tax revenue to the state treasury, even after considering the grant’s reimbursement payments to a given company.  

Solar component maker Sunmax Tech is building a 300,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Adairsville, about an hour NW of Atlanta. The facility is set to commence Phase I operations in May 2024.

Sunmax Tech plans to execute a comprehensive investment strategy over the next five to eight years, encompassing three distinct phases. In Phase I, the company will invest $39 million to establish a manufacturing facility and procure equipment for solar photovoltaic junction boxes and solar cables, creating 82 new job positions. The company is a supplier for Hanwha and Tesla.

The subsequent phases will witness additional investments of $76 million and $78 million in Phase II and Phase III, respectively. These phases will focus on expanding production capabilities to include EVA film, cable line plastic material, aluminum solar frames, and copper wire, creating a total of 242 new job positions.

By 2027, the company anticipates achieving annual sales of $100 million and capturing over 40% market share in photovoltaic junction boxes and connectors across North America.

South Korean company SK hynix, Inc., a supplier for Nvidia, will spend an estimated $3.87 billion on an Indiana chip packaging facility, the state’s largest economic development investment to date.

Governor Eric Holcomb, Secretary of Commerce David Rosenberg, Purdue University President Mung Chiang, and executives of SK hynix, a leading producer of High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) chips, announced plans to establish a new advanced packaging fabrication and R&D facility for high-intensity and AI microelectronic products and applications.

The 430,000-square-foot facility will be located on 90 acres at the Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette. The facility will develop future generations of chips and house an advanced packaging R&D line. SK hynix’s multi-billion-dollar investment is the first of its kind in the U.S. and is expected to create 800 jobs.

“Indiana is a global leader in innovating and producing the products that will power our future economy, and today’s news is proof positive to that fact,” said Governor Holcomb.

German syringe maker Schott Pharma is going ahead with a $371 million manufacturing plant in Wilson, North Carolina, 50 miles east of Raleigh. The investment will add over 400 jobs to the region.

The new site will expand the U.S. supply chain for in-demand syringes that deliver injectable medicines, vaccines, and other fields of applications, allowing SCHOTT Pharma to triple its contribution of glass and polymer syringes to the U.S. market by 2030.

Schott’s Christopher Cassidy added, “Wilson County stood out in a nationwide search for a number of reasons, particularly for its favorable pool of local talent and its proximity to the Research Triangle area, which hosts numerous universities, healthcare companies, and biopharma resources.” North Carolina supported SCHOTT’s expansion with $21 million in local and state incentive awards.

The project is expected to break ground by the end of the year, with a completion date sometime in 2027.

Korea-based LG Chem has started work on the company’s 420-acre site in Clarksville, northwest of Nashville. LG Chem is investing $3.2 billion to build factories to make cathode material for batteries that will power electric vehicles. The cathode is a compound consisting of nickel, cobalt, manganese and aluminum. They hope to make enough to power 600,000 all-electric vehicles at a charge distance of more than 300 miles.

LG Chem’s investment is the largest investment by a foreign company in Tennessee history. The company expects to hire 860 workers over several years. Wages start at $24 an hour, and 200 jobs will pay $100,000 or more a year.LG Chem is spending half of its $3.2 billion in an initial round of construction. Production is set to begin in 2026. The plant will be built by JE Dunn Construction Co.

Kyungshin America Corp. has selected the 20-million-square-foot Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub as the location of its new distribution center in Rincon, GA. The South Korea-based automotive part supplier will open a 136,000-square-foot facility in February as part of its production expansion.

Commercialsearch.com reports The Broe Group, along with its transportation affiliate, OmniTRAX, and Effingham County Industrial Development Authority, owns the 2,600-acre multimodal logistics park.

Kyungshin’s new facility will import and distribute automotive components to Hyundai Motor Group’s $7.5 billion electric vehicle plant in Savannah. The company is a certified Hyundai supplier and produces wire harnesses for automotive companies. Press reports suggest the move will also support the growing automotive manufacturing industry in the Southeastern U.S., as well as create approximately 70 new jobs and generate more than $22 million in investments in Effingham County.

Another South Korean Hyundai supplier is setting up shop in Georgia. Hwashin is set to build a plant, investing over $176 million and hiring more than 460 employees. The company said it would build a plant in the middle of the state in Dublin, planning to start production in 2025.

The company will make metal pieces for auto chassis for both the new Hyundai Motor Group plant being built in Ellabell as well as for sister company Kia in West Point.

It’s the latest company to announce a plant to supply Hyundai’s $7.6 billion plant to assemble electric vehicles and batteries in Ellabell, near Savannah. The Hyundai plant, which was announced last year, could grow to 8,500 employees and could begin producing vehicles as early as 2024.

Suppliers to the latest Hyundai plant have pledged to invest more than $2.4 billion and to hire nearly 6,300 people.