Corning will add 410 jobs in Cabarrus and Catawba counties, according to an economic development announcement Monday by Gov. Roy Cooper.
The New York-based Corning already employs more than 4,000 people at five sites in North Carolina. It will add 200 jobs at Corning Inc. in Cabarrus County, and create 210 jobs at Corning Optical Communications in Catawba, where the company is building a $67 million manufacturing facility.
Corning will receive up to $11.3 million in state and local incentives over a 12-year-period if it meets certain hiring and retention goals. The company expects to fill all 410 positions in 2018 and will receive annual grant payments as long as it retains those jobs up to 12 years.
In order to qualify for the grants, Corning also has to retain 975 existing jobs in Hickory and 1,523 positions and 104 contractors in Cabarrus County. But 4,328 existing positions at five Corning sites are not subject to the job retention requirement to qualify for the state financial incentives.
Veronica McRae, a Corning plant manager in Midland, said Monday the company’s new Catawba site planned in Newton will wrap optical fiber in protective housing. She said the Midland site she manages is the world’s largest optical fiber manufacturing facility in the world.
Corning’s total investment in Cabarrus and Catawba counties will be $176 million, which includes a $109 million investment in Cabarrus County.
Corning manufactures glass, ceramics and related materials, primarily for industrial and scientific applications.
The Cabarrus jobs will pay an average annual salary of $58,146, which is about $20,000 above the county average. The Catawba jobs will pay an average annual salary of $56,963, about $17,000 above the county average.
Department of Commerce officials said the company had considered locating the jobs in Mexico and India, but ultimately decided to stay in North Carolina.
This is the second major expansion Corning has announced for North Carolina in less than six months. In September, it announced it would spend $30 million and add 105 jobs in Hickory and invest $83.5 million and add 100 jobs in Winston-Salem. Both were over a five-year period.
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