CLAREMONT — Prysmian plans to invest more than $1 billion and add 385 jobs at its Claremont fiber and cable campus, a project state and local officials have described as the largest manufacturing expansion in Catawba County history.
The Catawba County Board of Commissioners and Claremont City Council set a joint public hearing for Sept. 1, 2026, at the Hickory Metro Convention Center to consider performance-based economic development agreements with Prysmian Cables and Systems USA, LLC under North Carolina General Statute §158-7.1.
Under the published legal notice, local incentives under consideration would not exceed about $28.6 million from the City of Claremont and about $27.3 million from Catawba County — roughly $56 million combined. Prysmian would create 385 new jobs and invest up to $1 billion in taxable real and personal property improvements. Failure to meet minimum investment and other performance requirements would allow the city and county to recapture some or all incentive payments.
Governor Josh Stein’s office announced the expansion Aug. 12, 2026. The company said the project will vertically integrate a new glass production facility and expand fiber-optic manufacturing capacity. The governor’s release put the footprint expansion at about 975,000 square feet; Claremont’s city statement and the Catawba County Economic Development Corporation described roughly 900,000 square feet of new manufacturing and research space, including cable production and R&D.
Average pay for the new positions is listed at $60,870 a year, above Catawba County’s average of $56,937, according to the governor’s announcement. Those jobs could mean more than $23.4 million a year in regional payroll impact, the same release said.
A $1 million performance-based grant from the state’s One North Carolina Fund is tied to the project. Prysmian would receive no money up front and must invest $665 million to qualify for OneNC payments, with matching local participation required.
“This billion-dollar investment is more proof that North Carolina is leading the way on innovation and job creation,” Stein said in the Aug. 12 release. “Companies understand the value of our highly skilled manufacturing workforce that helps to power their strategic growth.”
Andrea Pirondini, CEO of Prysmian North America, said in the same announcement that the company is one of just three U.S. manufacturers of fiber and optical cables and is committing more than a billion dollars to capacity growth.
Claremont Mayor Shawn R. Brown, in a city statement posted Aug. 12, called the investment transformational for a community Claremont’s size. “When a company of Prysmian’s stature commits to creating hundreds of new jobs and investing more than a billion dollars right here, it changes what is possible for our residents, our families, and our future,” he said.
Catawba County Board Chair Randy Isenhower, quoted in the county EDC’s Aug. 12 project announcement, said no single manufacturing project in the county’s history has approached this scale in jobs, investment, or long-term economic impact.
Prysmian and local partners said a groundbreaking in Claremont was expected in mid-September. Partners named in the state and local announcements include the N.C. Department of Commerce, the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, the N.C. Community College System, Catawba Valley Community College, Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas, Catawba County, the City of Claremont, and the Catawba County EDC.
