CAFR 2016

accommodate large textile manufacturing operations, along with existing fiber optic and advanced telecommunications infrastructure. North Carolina is home to Facebook, Apple, Google and IBM among other large scale data centers. In 2015, North Carolina passed legislation that extends tax breaks to smaller data center customers housed in multi-tenant facilities and lowers the minimum qualifying investment from $150 million to $75 million, making it a state with one of the lowest investment thresholds. Communications industry leader, Qorvo , recently expanded by buying Amalfi Semiconductor, another cell phone component manufacturer located in California. The company’s area headquarters currently employees approximately 1,400 workers in Guilford County. In December 2015, the company announced plans to add an additional 100 new jobs over a period of 3 years as part of a $25 million expansion of its Guilford county operations, primarily in research and development. The expansion project is scheduled to be completed by fall 2017. Qorvo is the outcome of an approximate $2 billion merger between RF Micro Devices and TriQuint Semiconductor, an Oregon-based microchip products company. In August 2016, the Greensboro site was named the sole headquarters location. In 2012 , BB&T opened its new Triad Operations Center in the former American Express customer service center near PTIA, with plans to add 1,700 new jobs over the next five years. The 390,000 square-foot building will eventually house 2,500 employees working primarily in back office, administrative and support functions. BB&T is a regional bank with more than 2,200 financial centers and $29 billion in market capitalization. It has reportedly grown to more than 4,000 employees in the Triad. Also since October 2012, Deere-Hitachi Construction Machinery Corporation has been in the process of expanding its neighboring Kernersville location with the goal of adding 340 jobs by the end of 2016 and investing more than $97 million in a new facility. As of November 2015, the new facility has been built and the company is in the process of hiring new employees. The company manufactures and distributes excavation equipment for the mining and construction industry. Coupled with nearby Caterpillar, Inc. in Forsyth County, expansion in heavy equipment manufacturing is noted in the region. In 2013, United Healthcare , a subsidiary of Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group, announced it would create 500 new jobs at its Greensboro facility which is headquarters for the health insurance provider’s Carolinas operations. The company has over 2,000 employees at this facility which provides call center, claims processing and administrative support. This move is a result of the company’s more than 5% growth in each of the past five years, with more than 1.5 million new customers added in 2012. Expected wages for the new jobs are between $40,000 and $70,000 with some clinical jobs paid at $92,000 per year. UnitedHealth Group is reported to be the nation’s 22 nd largest business on the Fortune 500 list and has been a corporate citizen in Greensboro for more than twenty years. In June 2015, Winston-Salem based Reynolds American completed a transaction to acquire Greensboro-based Lorillard Inc. under a complex $27.4 billion merger. The negotiations also provided for Imperial Tobacco Group PLC, (ITG) to acquire Reynold’s brands of Maverick, Kool, Winston and Salem. However, with the loss of the Newport brand, ITG announced in April, 2016 that it planned to lay off 375 workers from its existing 1,100 person facility in Greensboro. Imperial represents fourth place in U. S. market share behind third place Lorillard and second place Reynolds American. Cone Health received State approval in 2016 for plans to pursue a $134 million project to relocate the standalone Women’s Hospita l to a 118,000 square foot, 5-story new construction addition on the south side of the existing Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital. The groundbreaking for this “hospital within a hospital” project should occur in 2017, with the new facility to open in 2020. The capital investment plan also calls for $18.5 million in renovations of operating suites at Wesley Long Hospital, which should be completed in 2018. These projects continue to ensure long–term sustainability and transform health care services for the community and add to the substantial investment Cone Health made in its North Tower project, which opened in June 2013. According to Business North Carolina Magazine, Cone Hospital ranked as the third best

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