On eve of Japanese prime minister’s visit to North Carolina, Fujifilm announces more jobs there

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Hours before the Japanese prime minister’s arrival in North Carolina, a subsidiary of Japan’s Fujifilm Corp. announced Thursday plans to expand further a massive biopharmaceutical manufacturing plant in the state, even as the initial phase is not yet complete, promising another 680 jobs.

Gov. Roy Cooper joined a company executive and local government leaders in unveiling an additional $1.2 billion investment in Holly Springs, where Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies is building what’s being billed as one of the largest cell culture facilities of its kind in North America. The new jobs are on top of the 725 announced by the subsidiary when the initial $2 billion investment was announced in March 2021.

The first phase of the plant is expected to open next year, with the expansion coming online early in 2028, Lars Petersen, the subsidiary’s president and CEO, told reporters. The batch of jobs announced Thursday will be created starting in 2027 and pay an average minimum wage of nearly $110,000, according to state officials.

Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, a contract manufacturer of drugs and vaccines for other pharmaceutical companies, already has a campus in nearby Research Triangle Park, where it employs hundreds of people.

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