Transmission wire manufacturer plans $194M plant, 333 jobs in Chatham County

A maker of efficient power transmission cables plans to create 333 jobs and invest about $194 million in Chatham County — part of a long-range plan to provide more efficient power for data centers, medical diagnostics and more, state officials said Tuesday.

The yet-to-be-formed unit of Houston-based MetOx International plans to add the employees by the end of 2029, according to state economic development officials.

Details of the project — which has gone by the code name “Project Buffer” — were revealed Tuesday during a regular meeting of the state Department of Commerce’s Economic Investment Committee, which approved economic incentives worth up to $4.25 million. Local incentives worth up to $5.7 million are also being considered, officials said.

The incentives, which include a job-creation grant worth up to $3.2 million, would be paid out in installments only if the company meets hiring and investment targets. The package also includes utility incentives and workforce training.

The project is projected to grow the state’s economy by $988 million over the 12-year term of the jobs grant, state officials said.

The average annual salary for the planned positions is expected to be $75,132, officials said. That’s about 55% above the average annual wage for private sector jobs in the county.

“Establishing our new large-scale manufacturing facility in Chatham County is a pivotal step toward securing a reliable, domestic supply of HTS wire for the development of critical infrastructure in the United States,” Bud Vos, the chief executive of MetOx, said in a statement. “This facility will not only deliver transformative energy technologies that strengthen our grid and reduce carbon emissions but also create high-paying manufacturing jobs in a community eager to lead in innovation. We are proud to partner with North Carolina to drive forward a resilient energy future built on cutting-edge science and strong local collaboration.”

MetOx specializes in high-temperature superconducting wire technology — particularly wire products that can make transmission cables significantly more efficient than traditional copper cables, state officials said. The technology can help reduce the weight of things such as wind turbines and improve the efficiency of large-scale data centers, officials said.

The company has been focused on ramping up advanced manufacturing production of its Xeus Wire product to meet demand in sectors focused on electric power, renewable energy and medical diagnostics.

“Project Buffer represents a tremendous step forward in building the energy generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure of the future,” Mark Poole, the Commerce Department’s director of commerce finance, said while describing the incentives project to committee members. “The output of Project Buffer will be used to expand the capacity of America's aging grid, enabling the interconnection of renewable generation, electrified transportation, and [artificial intelligence] data centers essential to the burgeoning energy transition and data revolution.”

MetOx considered sites in Texas, Ohio, Florida, Colorado and South Carolina before settling on North Carolina, state officials said. The company chose North Carolina based on its availability of workers, history of public, private and academic partnerships, and its competitive utility costs, officials said.

“Establishing our new large-scale manufacturing facility in Chatham County is a pivotal step toward securing a reliable, domestic supply of HTS wire for the development of critical infrastructure in the United States,” Bud Vos, the chief executive of MetOx, said in a statement. “This facility will not only deliver transformative energy technologies that strengthen our grid and reduce carbon emissions, [it will] also create high-paying manufacturing jobs in a community eager to lead in innovation."

It’s the latest North Carolina expansion by a company focused on updating the nation’s power grid to accommodate renewable energy and increased power demand.

Siemens Energy said in February that it plans to add about 560 jobs and invest almost $150 million in North Carolina over the next several years. That expansion, primarily in Mecklenburg County, would establish the company’s first U.S. manufacturing site for large power transformers, a critical component of the grid. The company also plans to expand existing grid technology engineering operations in Wake County.

MetOx previously announced that it had secured $80 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to establish an advanced manufacturing plant in the Southeast, with plans to begin construction in 2025 — one of the first large-scale high-temperature superconductor plants in the country. The project is expected to help expand the nation’s power grid and speed the adoption of renewable energy, electric vehicle charging networks, AI data centers and large-scale manufacturing operations, the company said at the time without disclosing the location of that facility. A MetOx spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for additional information about the project.

“This project will have an immediate and tangible impact on the local economy and the energy sector, powering new technologies that rely on the unmatched power-carrying capacity of superconductors,” Vos said in a statement in October, when the company announced the federal funding.

Last month, the company announced that it had raised at least $40 million from investors to expand high-temperature superconducting wire manufacturing.