Biopharma giant Roche pledges 420-job factory in fast-growing Wake County town
The N.C. Economic Investment Committee has approved an economic incentive for the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche to build a $700 million factory in the Wake County town of Holly Springs.
The committee on Monday awarded a grant to Genentech, a Roche subsidiary, to open a 420-worker, drug-manufacturing plant in the fast-growing part of southwestern Wake County. Roche pledged to create these jobs between 2028 and 2032 at an average yearly salary of at least $119,800.
Roche is one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, with a market capitalization above that of IBM, McDonald’s, and AT&T. It entered Monday trading as the world’s 51st most valuable public company.
If it meets these hiring and investment targets, Roche will be eligible to receive up to $9.8 million in payroll tax breaks through a state job development investment grant, or JDIG. North Carolina’s total incentives for the project could reach $13 million.
“World-class companies like Genentech recognize that North Carolina is a leading state for biotechnology,” Gov. Josh Stein said in a statement Monday.
Roche selected Holly Springs over a finalist site in Ohio, the N.C. Economic Investment Committee said Monday. The promised plant will focus on “fill-finish” operations, a later step in the drugmaking process where active ingredients are put into final containers, like vials.
Combined, Holly Springs and Wake County awarded an additional incentive package worth up to $33.5 million over the course of the project.
The Roche project adds to Holly Springs’ existing biotech projects, which include massive incoming facilities from Fujifilm and Amgen. Holly Springs has seen rapid growth in recent decades, with its current population of 46,000 residents nearly doubled from 2010.
“What happened almost 20 years ago, the town council and Mayor Dick Sears at the time said we want to become a life science, bioscience hub. How do we get there?” town council member Tim Forrest told The N&O in December. “So they started gearing infrastructure changes to the land development, water, sewer, all that for pending growth but also for how to recruit major businesses.”
This story was originally published May 12, 2025 at 8:38 AM with the headline "Biopharma giant Roche pledges 420-job factory in fast-growing Wake County town."
