Japanese medical device maker Nipro Corp. is poised to announce a roughly $400-million expansion that is expected to bring more than 230 jobs to Pitt County.
The Osaka, Japan-based company has been the subject of incentives discussions with state and local officials, people familiar with the company's plans told WRAL on Tuesday. An announcement on the deal is expected as early as Wednesday.
Other WRAL Top Stories
The Pitt County Board of Commissioners met last month to consider economic development incentives related to the project, dubbed “Project Bluefin,” which would be on land currently owned by the county. The county approved tax breaks worth up to $9 million for the project, which would be built in phases over seven years, according to county records that don’t identify the company.
The company expects to create 232 jobs that would pay an average annual salary above Pitt’s current median average wage of $50,937, county records show.
Economic incentives deals are usually contingent on companies meeting hiring and investment goals.
A Nipro spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Officials with the North Carolina Department of Commerce scheduled a special meeting for Wednesday. The department’s Economic Investment Committee is expected to discuss one or more economic development projects at the meeting. A commerce spokesman declined to disclose details about the agenda.
Economic development deals tend to be highly secretive; companies request anonymity as they weigh expansion plans, negotiate with state and local governments and work to line up real estate. Information about such deals are often exempt from open records laws.
“We talk to many companies as they consider sites across the country and internationally,” said David Rhoades, a spokesman for the Commerce Department. “But before these companies make a public declaration of their decision, we do not comment on those discussions.”
Nipro’s expansion would be the latest in Pitt County, and another win for the BioPharma Crescent, the five-county region in Eastern North Carolina that is home to a large cluster of biotech and pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Boviet Solar, a Vietnamese maker of solar panels, announced in April that it would build its first North American plant in Greenville — a $294 million project expected to create 908 jobs. It was one of the biggest jobs announcements in the state this year and, according to local officials, the biggest economic development in Pitt County history.
The Nipro deal would also be the latest Japanese company to announce an expansion in the state — part of a push by Gov. Roy Cooper to lure international companies to North Carolina. Cooper and officials from the North Carolina Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina traveled to France, Germany and Switzerland for a series of economic development meetings. More than 1,700 foreign companies operate in North Carolina, where they employ more than 300,000 people.
Japan is one of the United States' largest trading partners, and the largest source of foreign investment in North Carolina. At least 225 Japanese companies have large footprints in the state, employing more than 30,500 people, according to the governor’s office. That number is expected to grow by thousands more jobs in the coming years, Cooper’s office said.
Japanese confectioner Morinaga & Co. Ltd. said Tuesday that it plans to build a second factory and create 204 jobs in Orange County to boost production of its popular Hi-Chew candies. The company said it would invest $136 million in to build a 133,000-square-foot factory at its site in Mebane. The company plans to begin construction in October and begin production at the plant in early 2027.
Cooper’s recent travels to Japan helped attract thousands of manufacturing jobs to the state. Since the trade mission to Japan, North Carolina has announced about 4,380 new jobs from Japanese companies including Toyota, Fujifilm Diosynth, Dai Nippon Printing, Kyowa Kirin and Morinaga.