For the third year in a row, Site Selection magazine has awarded North Carolina the Prosperity Cup, signifying that NC is the top state in the country to locate a major capital investment project.

This past year it was Chatham County that put North Carolina over the top with two projects that total $9 billion in capital investment.  VinFast, a Vietnamese electric vehicle and battery manufacturer, chose the Triangle Innovation Point megasite for its manufacturing center.  When the three-phase project is completed, it is expected to employ 7,500 people.

Semiconducter manufacturer Wolfspeed, headquartered in Durham, announced plans to invest $5 billion in new manufacturing site at the Chatham-Siler City Advanced Manufacturing Site.  The site is owned by Tim Booras and the Griffin family of D.H. Griffin Cos. in Greensboro.

The Wolfspeed plant is expected to employ over 1,800 by 2030.

Both Boom Supersonic, which is building a $500 million facility to manufacture supersonic aircraft at Piedmont Triad International Airport, and Toyota Battery Manufacturing at the Greensboro Randolph Megasite are mentioned in the Site Selection article naming North Carolina number one in the nation.

According to Site Selection, the number two state in the nation is Georgia, which moved up from tied for fourth in 2022, and number three is Ohio, which moved up from number seven in 2022.

In the South Atlantic Region, North Carolina and Georgia finished one-two followed by, in order, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Florida, Delaware and Maryland.

Site Selection uses 10 criteria to judge states including:

  • Total new and expanded facilities in 2022.
  • Total new and expanded facilities in 2022 per 1 million population
  • Total capital investment in new and expanded facilities in 2022
  • Total capital investment in new and expanded facilities in 2022 per 1 million population
  • Total new jobs created in 2022
  • Total new jobs created in 2022 per 1 million population
  • Rank in the corporate real estate executive portion of the 2022 Site Selection Business Climate Ranking
  • State tax climate as ranked by the Tax Foundation
  • Performance in the 2022 Legatum Institute Prosperity Index
  • Number of National Career Readiness Certificates per 1,000 residents aged 18-64, according to ACT – Workforce Development Division, administrator of the ACT certified Work Ready Communities initiative.

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