November 1, 2005

Samsung Chooses Austin for Newest Fab Plant

Korean giant Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., has decided to locate its newest chip manufacturing plant in Austin. The deal, made in late October, represents a $3.5 billion investment and about 700 new jobs. Samsung will secure more than $230 million in tax breaks and other incentives from local and state governments and utilities. The $3.5 billion investment is the largest announced in the South to date in 2005.

Cardinal Health Announces 500-Job Call Center in Arkansas

Ohio-based Cardinal Health Inc., announced in mid-October is will open a call center in Sherwood, Ark., that will house 500 workers. Sherwood is located near Little Rock. The call center will support Cardinal Health's 50,000 customers in the U.S., including hospitals, physician offices and pharmacies.

Magazine Names Top Work Force Training Programs

Expansion Management magazine recently published its annual ranking of state work force training programs and the South was represented well. The publication polled 80 well known corporate site location consultants and the result ranked Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky and South Carolina as four of the five best states for worker training and Tennessee and Maryland also made EM's top 10. States outside the South that made the magazine's top 10 in worker training included Indiana, Arizona, Colorado and Idaho.

New Northrop Grumman Lab in Huntsville

Northrop Grumman Corp. announced on October 11 that it is adding a lab and hiring about 70 engineers at its Cummings Research Park complex in Huntsville, Ala. Work at the new lab will focus on the company's Kinetic Energy Interceptor missile-defense program. Northrop Grumman employs about 1,200 workers in the Huntsville area.

Nissan Relocating Headquarters to Tennessee

On November 12, Japanese automaker Nissan is expected to announce the relocation of its North American headquarters from Southern California to a site in Williamson County, Tenn., which is located just south of Nashville. The relocation is expected to include a few hundred employees from the staff of 1,300 workers at the current Gardena, Calif., headquarters facility. The Williamson County site is located about 25 miles west of Smyrna, Tenn., where Nissan operates its largest North American assembly plant. The automaker also operates a large plant in the Southern Auto Corridor in Canton, Miss. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other state officials met with Nissan executives on October 31, in an effort to retain Nissan, one of nine Asian automakers doing business in the U.S. that have their headquarters in Southern California. Nissan is relocating its headquarters to Tennessee to cut costs. CEO Carlos Ghosn recently announced the relocation of its global headquarters from Tokyo's pricey Ginza district to the port city of Yokohama, Japan. Nissan currently leads all automakers in the world with a better than 10 percent operating profit margin. You can read more about the Southern Auto Corridor at www.SouthernAutoCorridor.com.

Florida: A Job Generating Monster

A report released in October by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. showed that Florida has accounted for about 500,000 new jobs, or approximately one-fifth of all new net jobs created in the U.S. since the end of the recession. Even during the recession, Florida was one of the few states in the nation to show net job increases.

Amazon.com Opening Sixth Kentucky Distribution Center

Seattle-based Amazon.com anounced in October it will open its sixth Kentucky distribution center, this one in Hebron, Ky. It's the second facility for the online retailer in Hebron. The 543,000-square-foot facility will house about 70 workers. Amazon.com currently operates distribution centers in Campbellsville, Lexington, Louisville and Hebron.

Office Vacancy Rate in D.C. Lowest in Nation

Washington D.C.'s office real estate sector is enjoying record rental rates of almost $48 a square foot and the vacancy rate is the lowest in the nation at 7.4 percent. The Capitol Hill subsector of D.C. had a third-quarter vacancy rate of 3.9 percent. The vacancy rate has remained low despite the fact that over 1 million square feet of new office space has been added this year. A record 6.8 million square feet of office space is now under construction in D.C.

U.S.-Made Foreign Auto Brands Top Mark

According to the Michigan-based Center for Automotive Research, for the first time ever more foreign brand vehicles sold in the U.S. were made in the U.S. than made overseas. The non-profit research firm reported that of the 7.1 million foreign brand vehicles sold in the U.S. last year, 3.7 million were made in the U.S. at 15 foreign automaker assembly plants. The rest, 3.4 million, were imported from plants overseas. J.D. Power estimates that in 2005 4.8 million of the 7.1 million foreign brands sold in the U.S. will have been built at foreign-owned U.S. factories. Eight of the 15 foreign-owned assembly plants in the U.S. are located in the Southern Automotive Corridor (www.SouthernAutoCorridor.com).

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