Governor Roy Cooper Directs $65 Million to Anchor Regional Aerospace and Clean Tech Megasites

RALEIGH, N.C. — Governor Roy Cooper announced on Monday the distribution of $65 million in state capital grants through the North Carolina Megasite Readiness Program to engineer and construct foundational utility infrastructure across four certified industrial megasites totaling over 6,000 acres in Chatham, Edgecombe, Person, and Rowan counties.

The grants, administered through the North Carolina Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina (EDPNC), finance heavy-duty industrial water and wastewater treatment connections, dual-feed 230-kV electric substations, and dedicated industrial rail spurs.

Winning Global Advanced Manufacturing Competitions Governor Cooper highlighted that North Carolina has been repeatedly ranked the top state for business due to proactive investments in shovel-ready megasites, attracting major investments from Wolfspeed, VinFast, and Boom Supersonic.

"Global manufacturing companies want to build where the land is shovel-ready, the infrastructure is in place, and the workforce is trained and ready to go," Governor Cooper said in Raleigh. "By investing $65 million in these four strategic megasites, we are ensuring that rural North Carolina communities can compete and win corporate aerospace, semiconductor, and clean technology projects that bring thousands of good-paying jobs."

Megasite Allocations and Infrastructure Upgrades Funded site improvements include:

• Kingsboro Megasite (Edgecombe County): $20 million to construct a 4-million-gallon-per-day industrial wastewater pre-treatment plant.
• Person County Megasite (Roxboro): $18 million for high-capacity natural gas pipelines and dual-circuit electrical transmission lines.
• Mid-Carolina Regional Megasite (Chatham County): $15 million for internal four-lane industrial logistics boulevards and direct rail switches.
• Rowan County Industrial Center: $12 million for regional stormwater detention systems and high-voltage grid interconnections.

County commissioners and regional economic developers emphasized that state site-readiness funding compresses construction lead times by up to eighteen months for prospective corporate tenants, giving North Carolina a decisive competitive edge in international site selection.