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On Sept. 19, solar-panel manufacturer Silfab Solar announced plans to invest $150 million and create 800 jobs at a new facility in Fort Mill. The disclosure was the culmination of a search process dating back to 2021. The deal captures the state of Charlotte’s industrial market, which is seeing growing interest from manufacturers.
The Charlotte region’s population boom, the economic growth that follows and its Southeast location make the area a natural target for a resurgence in U.S. manufacturing.
Those factors are aided by recent federal legislation aimed at boosting the sector. Projects like Silfab’s could represent an initial step in Charlotte’s accelerated push to diversify its economy.
“We’ve got a lot of fiscal stimulus that is helping drive investment in technology like the CHIPS (and Science) Act and then the Inflation Reduction Act,” said Mark Vitner, chief economist at Charlotte-based Piedmont Crescent Capital. Charlotte Business Journal
