Amgen plans over $1B expansion in North Carolina, creating 370 jobs
Biopharmaceutical titan Amgen, one of the founding companies of the biotechnology industry, is planning a major expansion of its biomanufacturing site in Holly Springs, N.C., adding $1.018 billion to its initial investment and 370 more high-paying jobs.
The news, announced Dec. 5 in a ceremony at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, comes only three years after the company announced in August 2021 that it would establish a $550 million drug substance manufacturing facility employing 355 people in the town, 20 miles southwest of Raleigh.
The addition of a second manufacturing facility on the Holly Springs campus brings the company’s total planned investment in the site to more than $1.5 billion and total jobs to 725.
Although specific wages will vary depending on job role, the average salary of the new positions is $91,527, bringing more than $33 million of annual payroll growth to the region. The current average wage in Wake County is $74,866.
"North Carolina’s reputation as one of the world’s leading centers for biotechnology soars even higher with today’s decision by Amgen,” said North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. “North Carolina offers everything an innovative biotech company needs to succeed, especially our highly trained, dedicated and diverse workforce, which is fine-tuned to the needs of this critical industry.”
Amgen chose Holly Springs from among four other potential sites after conducting a national search. The other finalist site was in Lebanon, Ind.
The company said in a news release that its choice of North Carolina reflects the state’s position as a “premier life sciences destination, with a vibrant ecosystem of innovation and a skilled workforce.”
The Holly Springs site will use traditional drug substance manufacturing technologies and Amgen’s latest innovations to operate a hybrid facility called FleXBatch. By increasing efficiencies in manufacturing, this approach will help Amgen achieve its company-wide sustainability goals of reducing water use by 40%, cutting waste disposal by 75% and becoming carbon neutral by 2027.
“This expansion underscores our unwavering focus on bringing transformative medicines to patients around the world,” said Robert A. Bradway, chairman and chief executive officer at Amgen. “North Carolina will be an important part of our global manufacturing network as we continue to meet the growing demand for our innovative therapies while generating significant local economic impact.”
Biomanufacturing bonanza
Amgen’s decision to locate – and now expand – in Holly Springs fortifies the town’s and state’s reputations as biomanufacturing hubs. This announcement brings the total life sciences manufacturing investment in North Carolina to nearly $10 billion for the year.
In fact, Amgen’s announcement is the second billion-dollar expansion announced in 2024 in Holly Springs. FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, a global contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), announced in April that it would double its $2 billion biomanufacturing facility under construction in the town, with an additional $1.2 billion investment and 680 jobs. When completed, the facility will be the largest end-to-end cell culture CDMO site in North America.
CSL Seqirus selected Holly Spring in 2006 as the home for the nation’s first cell-based influenza vaccine manufacturing facility and has reinvested several times since then. In 2022, the company completed a $156 million expansion at the site, giving it 475,000 square feet of space – about the size of eight football fields.
The Danish healthcare company Novo Nordisk announced in June it would invest $4.1 billion to expand its fill and finish operations in Clayton, creating 1,000 new jobs and adding 1.4 million square feet of new manufacturing space for the production of injectable treatments for people with diabetes, obesity and other chronic diseases. It is the largest capital investment ever in North Carolina’s life sciences industry, surpassing the FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies expansion in Holly Springs.
Beyond expansions, North Carolina has also attracted significant investment to establish new company sites.
Johnson & Johnson, a global health care and medtech company, announced plans in October to invest more than $2 billion to build a new biologics production facility in Wilson. The new plant will occupy more than 300,000 square feet of space and create 420 jobs over five years.
In September, Kyowa Kirin broke ground in Sanford for the Japanese company’s first U.S. manufacturing site—a $530 million biologics manufacturing facility that will create more than 100 jobs.
“The longstanding and authentic partnerships across North Carolina have created a strong foundation for the life sciences industry to thrive, while the state’s commitment to continuous improvement paves the way for continued growth and opportunity.” said Laura Rowley, Ph.D., vice president of life science economic development for NCBiotech. “North Carolina’s life sciences industry provides fulfilling careers for thousands in the state and impacts patient lives around the world.”
Amgen: a biotech pioneer
Amgen was founded in 1980 to develop biopharmaceuticals using new recombinant DNA and gene-cloning technologies. Since then, the company has grown to become a global leader in developing biotherapeutics for a wide range of diseases. Major brand names include Enbrel, Neulasta, Otezla, Prolia, Repatha and XGEVA.
Amgen sells products in about 100 countries and reported $28.2 billion in revenues in 2023. The company employs 23,000 people worldwide, and about 14,000 of them work in the United States.
In 2024, Amgen was named one of the “World’s Most Innovative Companies” by Fast Company and one of “America’s Best Large Employers” by Forbes.
The company is participating in several initiatives to improve workforce development and career opportunities in the life sciences industry.
Amgen is a founding member of OneTen, a coalition of 65 of the world's largest, best-known companies that aims to close the job-opportunity gap for diverse talent, focusing on the 65% of Americans and 76% of Black adults over the age of 25 who do not have a four-year degree. Collectively, OneTen coalition companies aim to hire one million people into good-paying, family-sustaining jobs over 10 years.
Amgen is also a North Carolina Life Sciences Apprenticeship Consortium member and has registered and hired a dozen apprentices. Founded and coordinated by NCBiotech, the Consortium consists of a dozen life sciences companies collaborating with academic institutions and nonprofit organizations to build awareness, provide scholarships for pre-apprenticeship training, and create pathways for career opportunities and growth in the industry.
Amgen also provided matching funds to expand workforce development and job opportunities in life sciences manufacturing in economically distressed areas and among minority communities in a 79-county region in North Carolina. The work is part of a nearly $25 million Build Back Better Challenge grant awarded by the U.S. Economic Development Administration in 2022 to a statewide coalition of public and private partner organizations and institutions led by NCBiotech.
Through the Amgen Foundation, Amgen is committed to inspiring the next generation of innovators by partnering with high schools to bring students the "Amgen Biotech Experience." This global program, housed locally at N.C. A&T State University, provides teachers at schools in central North Carolina with the resources they need to bring a hands-on biotech learning experience into their classrooms. Overall, the program has reached 1 million students around the world.
“Amgen quickly became an invaluable and active member of North Carolina’s life sciences community,” said NCBiotech’s Rowley. “Their demonstrated commitment to build a diverse team of local talent makes Amgen’s expansion announcement all the more exciting.”
Incentives provided
Amgen’s project in North Carolina will be supported by a Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) approved by the state’s Economic Investment Committee. Wake County and the Town of Holly Springs also provided incentives.
Using a formula that takes into account the new tax revenues generated by the new jobs, and a capital investment of $1.01 billion, the JDIG agreement authorizes the potential reimbursement to the company of up to $4,893,750, spread over 12 years.
Over that term, economists in the Department of Commerce estimate the project will grow the state’s economy by $3.59 billion. The project's projected return on investment of public dollars is 205%, meaning for every dollar of potential cost, the state receives $3.05 in state revenue.
Partnering with the North Carolina Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership of N.C. on this project were the North Carolina General Assembly, the North Carolina Community College System, NCBiotech, the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, N.C. Commerce’s Division of Workforce Solutions, North Carolina State University, Wake Tech, Capital Area Workforce Development, the Town of Holly Springs, Wake County, and Wake County Economic Development, a program of the Raleigh Chamber.