Five companies considering Colorado for 2,148 new jobs received approval for $22.9 million in Job Growth Incentive Tax Credits on Thursday.
The companies include manufacturers of rare-earth magnets, semiconductor production tools, large-scale batteries, and consumable goods, as well as a Greeley-based general contractor. While construction is not manufacturing, it does fall under the category of “goods” rather than services.
The largest award, worth $7.6 million, went to Project Solitaire, the code name assigned to a maker of semiconductor fabrication tools that is looking to bring 631 jobs to metro Denver. The positions, which include managers, technicians, engineers, R&D professionals, and sales associates, have an average annual wage of $123,018.
The company behind Project Solitaire received an award in July 2021 under the code name Project 14er
for a facility to improve battery storage for vehicles and mobile devices. However, the company had to forfeit the award when it failed to sign an incentive contract with the state in the 18-month window allowed.
Of the company’s 100 employees, 90 work in Colorado, where the company is looking to build a large clean room and semiconductor equipment manufacturing plant. It is also looking at New York and North Carolina. The commission conditioned its award on the company showing proof by year-end that it raised $27.45 million in capital needed to help build the plant.
The federal CHIPS Act has set aside $200 billion for scientific R&D and commercialization related to semiconductors and another $39 billion for semiconductor manufacturing, setting off a wave of semiconductor investments in Colorado and other states.
Colorado also continues to see strong interest from battery manufacturers, who are being incentivized under the Inflation Reduction Act to locate plants domestically. The Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University estimates the act has generated $70 billion in investment in U.S. battery supply chain capacity.
Colorado landed the Amprius Plant, a 775,000-square-foot facility in Brighton, earlier this year and one of the applicants approved on Thursday, Project Hawk, is looking at Colorado Springs, Aurora or Fort Collins for a facility to make lithium iron phosphate batteries to supply energy storage systems and electric vehicles in North America.
Project Hawk, which received approval for just under $2 million in incentives, expects to create 178 new jobs at an average annual wage of $75,938, which is slightly above the state average. Electricians, technicians, marketing, sales, and engineer positions are included. None of the company’s 350 employees are based in Colorado.
An award of $3.9 million went to Project Earth II, a U.S. maker of rare-earth magnets that are used in aerospace, defense, auto, and energy industries. It is looking to build a 25,000-square-foot pilot plant that could eventually expand to 150,000 square feet or more depending on demand.
The plant is expected to be staffed by 250 workers making an average annual wage of $85,036 a year. None of the company’s 15 employees are currently working in Colorado, which is competing with Texas and North Carolina for the new facility.
A global manufacturer is looking to invest $600 million in a new plant in Aurora expected to employ 500 workers earning an average annual wage of $89,349. Project Waterfall, the name assigned to a company that is also looking at the Interstate 35 corridor in Texas and northern Florida, received approval for $4.5 million in state incentives and Adams County and local governments extending another $12 million.
What Project Waterfall would make in Aurora wasn’t disclosed, other than it would be a consumable and a carrier device and would be the primary production facility for the product in North America. The company has 80,000 employees worldwide but no presence in Colorado.
Project Treadstone, a construction company based in Greeley, received approval for nearly $4.9 million in incentives in return for the creation of 589 new jobs. The jobs would pay around $80,051 a year on average. Nashville, Phoenix and Austin, Texas, are the other locations under consideration.
To accommodate those new employees, as well as more than 600 already employed in Greeley, the company is looking at adding 107,000 square feet of new space. Although a name was not disclosed, the only general contractor based in Greeley of the size described would be Hensel Phelps.
Companies must create the jobs they are seeking incentives for within an eight-year window. The incentive provides a break against state taxes owed equal to half of the payroll taxes associated with the new jobs.
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