FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, a division of Japanese parent company Fujifilm Corp, plans to expand its workforce at its proposed Holly Springs location with a $1.2 billion investment and an additional 680 jobs. The project has been awarded a $15 million Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) by the North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Economic Investment Committee (NCEIC).

Other incentives include $1.7 million for community college job training and $1.3 million from the Division of Workforce Solutions.

In addition, about $54.3 million in incentives from Holly Springs and Wake County are also expected in the deal. 

The project is expected to have an economic impact of $4.76 billion, with a potential payroll impact of more than $74.4 million for the region each year.

Positions at the facility will include engineers, scientists, manufacturing personnel, and other support positions. Salaries will vary by position; however, the average annual wage is $109,923.

The company is a contract pharmaceutical manufacturer, which means it doesn’t create products but manufacturers them for other companies. 

According to a press release from Gov. Roy Cooper, with the additional investment, the facility will expand its capacity for drug substance production to contain two production modules, each with 20,000-L production bioreactors, harvesting capabilities, and downstream processing.

The announcement was made at an NCEIC meeting on Thursday, ahead of a visit by Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to NC State’s Japan Center on Friday.

“The new jobs created by the expansion of FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies in Wake County is yet another example of the thriving economic relationship between North Carolina and Japan, and we are grateful for their continuing investments in our state,” Cooper, a Democrat, said. “Japanese companies continue to provide good-paying jobs and economic opportunity for people across North Carolina.”

Kishida and Cooper are also planning to visit with officials from HondaJet and Toyota at manufacturing plants in the Triad.

Cooper is set to host Kishida on Friday at the Governor’s Mansion, as well.

FUJIFILM Diosynth also has a campus in Research Triangle Park.

In 2021, state officials approved incentives worth about $20 million over 12 years to create 725 jobs at the $1.5 billion site in Holly Springs, in addition to the company’s existing 664 positions. Wake County and Holly Springs added $92 million in incentives to the development, including land donation and a tax grant.

In addition to the incentives, FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies’ JDIG agreement could also move almost $5 million into the state’s Industrial Development Fund – Utility Account.

When companies select a site in a Tier 3 county such as Wake, their JDIG agreements move some of the new tax revenue into the Utility Account. Local communities in more economically challenged areas of the state use grants from the Utility Account to build public infrastructure projects, with the aim of improving a community’s ability to attract companies to their regions.

The Holly Springs location is expected to open in 2025.

The announcement of this particular JDIG agreement comes as NCEIC ended yet another JDIG agreement on March 26 after a Durham firm said it couldn’t create the 878 jobs promised under the deal.

BioAgilytix Labs, LLC, a life science testing company, founded in Durham in 2008 and headquartered there, was due to receive up to $18,885,000, spread over 12 years, if they held up their end of the agreement that was announced in October 2020.

The company didn’t receive any money through the grant program. 

The expansion was proposed to help the company meet increased demand from its customer base. Reports say it is now having trouble hiring new employees due to a downturn in biotech funding over the last two years.

BioAgilytix Labs, LLC also has laboratory locations in the Cambridge area of Massachusetts and Hamburg, Germany. It specializes in large molecule bioanalysis and supports the development and release testing of biologics across several industries and disease states. 

As part of the JDIG agreement, the company planned to invest $61.5 million in Durham.

Over the 12-year term of the grant, the project was estimated to grow the state’s economy by $2.8 billion, with state tax revenues to exceed $58.8 million.

The latest announcement comes after state officials terminated three more incentive packages worth millions of dollars and 1,000 potential new jobs last month.

NCEIC officials cancelled packages for Clorox Services Company, Syneos Health, and Service Offsite Solutions because they couldn’t produce the jobs required to qualify for the Job Development Investment Grants (JDIG) that they were to receive.

A growing number of recent agreement terminations have prompted calls to terminate the JDIG program.