Prysmian Cable Manufacturing Expands North Carolina Facility

Prysmian, a provider of cable manufacturing, is investing over $1 billion and adding 385 jobs in an expansion of its facility in Catawba County, Governor Josh Stein announced today. 

Prysmian, headquartered in Milan, Italy, operates in over 50 countries and specializes in cabling solutions. Its North American headquarters are located near Cincinnati in Highlands Heights, Kentucky. 

The company currently employs about 680 people at its Claremont facility in Catawba County, a 1.2 million-square-foot manufacturing operation where it produces both the glass used inside fiber optic cables and the cables themselves. The expansion will more than double the company's U.S. fiber optic production capacity, including the glass preform and fiber manufacturing processes, and increase the cable production side as well. Construction is expected to take 20-24 months. 

At more than $1 billion, the project represents the largest capital investment announced in Catawba County in the 11 years that the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina has tracked project data. 

Demand for fiber optic cable is growing across North Carolina as data centers, telecommunications companies, and other industries invest in the infrastructure needed to support the growing need for high-speed connectivity. Employment in the state’s fiber optic cable manufacturing sector has grown 84% since 2015, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

In addition to the North Carolina Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, other key partners in this project include the North Carolina General Assembly, Commerce’s Division of Workforce Solutions, the North Carolina Community College System, Catawba Valley Community College, Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas, Catawba County, the City of Claremont, and the Catawba County Economic Development Corporation.