While north Carolina is set to become a major hub
for the electric vehicle market and future technologies, attracting
more than$15 billion in capital investment from companies like
Toyota. Next gen, aircraft maker, boom,
supersonic and most recently the chip manufacturer Wolf speed.
So joining me now is Michelle baker Sanders. North
Carolina Secretary of Commerce Secretary, thank you so much
for coming. It's an honor to have you here
at the stock exchange. Thank you for having me
. What makes your state the right place for these
investments? North Carolina is the right place for these
investments for a number of reasons. First of all
, the cost of doing business in north Carolina is
a low cost, We have an affordable and excellent
quality of life. Um, and we have the
, the largest manufacturing workforce in the southeastern part of
the, the United States. And so those are
a few of the reasons why. And as you
can see, and as we're talking about the Carolina
core has had great success with the E. V
. Sector having four significant economic development projects and three
of those being the largest in our history. Talk
about the Carolina core. Our viewers might not know
what exactly that is. What is that? So
the Carolina core is 121 miles of swath in central
north Carolina. Um, the Carolina core has more
than 30 universities, uh, near the area and
it is also anchored by three cities, Greensboro Winston
Salem and high point. The universities that I mentioned
actually has over 250,000 students. So you can see
that that location and proximity to the areas surrounding the
Carolina core is an excellent place for businesses to grow
, to feed their talent pipeline and fill their workplace
with a diverse skilled workforce and good news for those
students to write to have some options in the very
close vicinity. So let's talk a bit about talent
. What is the sort of talent that you're looking
to attract for some of these jobs and how many
jobs over time do you think will be created?
So the four companies that come to mind in the
E. V. Space are Toyota boom, then
fast. Um and then there's, I can't even
think at this time of that fourth one. Um
, but those companies are looking for engineers, looking
for production production workers, they're also looking for executive
team members to fill their staff. So they're looking
for a very broad uh skill set in the manufacturing
sector and we are expecting at least 16,000 jobs created
from the major announcements that we've seen in the Carolina
core, wow, 16,000 jobs. And it sounds
like good paying jobs as well. That's correct.
These are good paying jobs, family sustaining jobs and
ones that will not only help the individuals who are
working in those jobs, but the communities that house
these companies were looking forward to partnering with them and
collaborating with them to help spread their citizenship across the
state and beyond the communities that they serve. Talk
to me about the timeline here too, in terms
of when we expect some of these companies to break
ground to make some of these hires and to start
to see their ideas truly come to life. The
companies have already begun site prep work and so we're
excited about the progress that they continue to make.
Um the companies anticipate as early as 2020 for being
operational and so um as you know, you have
to have hires and do the preliminary work prior to
becoming operational facility. So we anticipate by as soon
as 2020 for that, we will see the companies
become operational. What about some of the training that
it goes into some of these high paying jobs of
course in engineering degrees certainly would help with that.
But are there other steps that the state is taking
to make sure that these investments pay off north Carolina's
greatest asset is our talent and we have doubled down
if you will on initiatives and work to continue to
have that remain as our greatest asset. We are
partnered with community college system, your university system where
we have top tiered education systems within north Carolina.
Um I think it's unique that within North Carolina,
within 30 miles of where every resident lives, there
is a community college and so that's surely an asset
to help us with training. The companies have invested
in north Carolina by partnering with our college system and
the university system on different programs that will benefit them
in the workforce development for example, um, Wolf
Speed, which is the fourth company that I forgot
a moment ago, Wolf Speed has partnered with A
and T University, which is the largest historically black
college in the country. Um, and they have
partnered with them on stem programs, also partnered with
them on a curriculum that will benefit their manufacturing.
Um, and so through that partnership we're expecting to
hire or they're expected to hire, um, the
best and the brightest engineers as well as the best
and brightest automation and software technicians from the anti university
. Uh, Toyota, another company in the Carolina
core is also partnered with the university and community college
system, not only to help design programs and training
that's curriculum that's specific for the needs of the company
, but also partner with our early education system to
ensure that there's a talent pipeline going forward and,
and early on, especially considering the tight labor market
that we have. Are there incentives for these companies
to open up shop to do business in north Carolina
? And are there other companies next gen technology companies
that you expect to come and make an investment in
your state? There are incentives, The first incentive
, which I mentioned to you is the talent in
north Carolina. The second are the assets that we
have, which I mentioned the university system and community
Carlos system and then, um, yes. You
know, the companies that are located or located in
the Carolina core, We recognize that there will be
a multiplier effect. Not only will they locate there
and we're excited about that, but we're also excited
about their supply chains. Were excited about the suppliers
and vendors and O E M. S that work
with those companies. So north Carolina and specifically in
the Carolina core at this time and going forward,
it's going to be a place that's not only recognized
for the growth of the E V sector that I
mentioned, but also the supply chain and the vendors
who actually feed into electric vehicle, battery manufacturing and
the semiconductor industry. Well, all very hot topics
. 16,000 jobs coming to the state of north Carolina
. That's what we like to hear. Michelle baker
Sanders. Thank you so much for joining me.
Michelle, of course, is the north Carolina Secretary
of Commerce. We appreciate it. Thank you