I’m Brian Gordon, reporter for The News & Observer, and this is Open Source, a weekly newsletter focusing on business, labor and technology in North Carolina.
When discussing VinFast’s goals in North Carolina, it’s quickest to just give the headline figures. The electric car company from Vietnam pledges to create 7,500 jobs and invest more than $4 billion at an incoming assembly and battery plant in eastern Chatham County. If VinFast reaches these benchmarks, the company is poised to receive more than $1.25 billion in taxpayer-funded incentives and other benefits.
It wants to do all this by 2027.
But the agreements VinFast signed with North Carolina and Chatham County contain exceptions, extensions and contingencies if VinFast doesn’t quite live up to its initial promises. Which, by the way, is what happens with most North Carolina projects backed by taxpayer incentives.
It’s time to start paying attention. VinFast’s hiring clock begins this year, as the company is committed to hiring close to 2,000 workers by the end of 2024.