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Fujifilm Biotechnologies opened its new, $3.2 billion bio-pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Holly Springs on Wednesday, and the town is already experiencing impacts.
“I’m more excited about what it brings for our residents of Holly Springs,” Sean Mayesfki, the mayor of Holly Springs, said.
Mayesfki said new developments have popped up around the facility in anticipation of the Fujifilm facility’s opening. Oakview Commons, a shopping and retail development less than a half-mile from the facility, opened up several spaces over the past year.
“That probably wouldn’t happen without Fuji coming in the corner,” Mayesfki said. “You’ve got coffee shops, you got little mom-and-pop sushi restaurants, a golf simulator company that’s in there. They’re all local folks that are taking a chance on their dream and their investment.”
The facility is one of the largest of its kind in North America, and is expected to employ 1,400 people in North Carolina by 2031, according to the press release. It provides services for biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms to develop and manufacture products like biologics, vaccines and advanced therapies.
This new facility will manufacture medicines for drug companies Johnson & Johnson and Regeneron, both of which plan to develop drugs that will battle autoimmune diseases and various cancers. This location hopes to make about 50 million doses of various medications each year.
Officials at the ribbon-cutting ceremony said that this facility is the largest investment in one location in Fujifilm’s history.
Fujifilm’s president and CEO Lars Petersen said Wednesday’s opening of the facility marks a major step for North Carolina’s commitment to transforming the biotech industry.
“We are not simply opening a world class biopharmaceutical manufacturing site,” Petersen stated. “We are celebrating a giant step forward in redefining how biologic medicines are made and delivered worldwide.”
The site currently has over 680 employees and is expected to reach 750 employees by the end of the year. Fujifilm currently has nearly 5,000 employees worldwide.
Fujifilm’s investment highlights a continued Japanese presence in North Carolina, as the country is number one for capital investment and new jobs in our state. Fujifilm employees are roughly 80% local hires.
Secretary of Commerce Lee Lilley said, “We certainly want them to hire local. It’s our preference anytime someone cites a company here that they’re hiring North Carolinians. But we know there’s some specialized jobs where they want to bring folks over from their original location, mostly to help us train, and that’s led to some real process improvements in manufacturing.”
The ribbon-cutting ceremony was attended by Fujifilm’s leadership and state and local public officials, including Gov. Josh Stein and Wake County Commission Chair, Susan Evans.
“Wake County attracts cutting edge life sciences companies like Fujifilm Biotechnologies, because we offer a skilled workforce, a supportive business ecosystem and a quality of life that is second to none,” Evans said in the press release. “As we cut the ribbon on this new facility, we show that, once again, Wake County, is the leading hub for the biotech industry.”
In August, Johnson & Johnson announced it would be investing $2 billion over a decade at the site, on top of Fujifilm’s $1.2 billion announced in April 2024, to help support the expansion, bringing the total investment to the Holly Springs site to more than $3.2 billion.
The project is expected to have an economic impact of $4.7 billion over the next decade.
Leaders with Fujifilm says the site has the ability to double in size, but there are no current plans for that, as the expansion is something they will consider as they move forward with new developments in this facility.
Mayefski said the opening of Fujifilm is a part of the town’s vision to advance its life science and biotechnology hub.
“Your councils, your mayors along the way, all stayed the course, and they all believed in that ultimate dream of creating that life-science environment that they would get folks like the Fuji’s of the world,” he said. “That’s been our dream, and…we’re excited to see those things come to fruition.”
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