North Carolina Construction News staff writer
US Conec Ltd. will invest more than $149.7 million to build a 200,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Hickory, creating 224 jobs in Catawba County. The company, which designs and manufactures high-density optical interconnects, will use the new facility for advanced manufacturing, research and development, administrative operations and distribution.
Headquartered in Hickory since its founding in 1992, US Conec supplies components for advanced computing infrastructure, enterprise and telecommunications networks, circuit board interconnects, and industrial and military markets.
“The support of our state leaders for US Conec’s expansion is great news for North Carolina, for Catawba County, and for our industry,” said Tracey Horton, president of US Conec. “The expansion will create highly skilled jobs, enhance US Conec’s manufacturing capabilities in Catawba County and help meet growing demand driven by deployments of advanced computing infrastructure.”
The new positions will include engineers, operators, technicians and support staff. The average annual salary for the jobs will be $56,982, slightly above Catawba County’s average of $56,937, according to the state. The positions could generate more than $12.7 million in annual payroll for the region.
The state will provide a $500,000 performance-based grant through the One North Carolina Fund to support the expansion. The program provides financial assistance to local governments to attract business investment and create jobs.
Companies must meet job creation and capital investment targets to receive grant payments. Awards also require matching contributions from local governments.
The project involves the North Carolina Department of Commerce, the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, Catawba County, the City of Hickory, Catawba County Economic Development Corp., Catawba Valley Community College, Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas and other state and local partners.