25 questions, 25 answers on the top NC business, tech and labor trends of 2025
I’m Brian Gordon, tech reporter for The News & Observer, and this is Open Source, a weekly newsletter on business, labor and technology in North Carolina.
North Carolina kept busy in 2025. The state added population, made one of its biggest jobs headlines ever (courtesy of a futuristic California jet company), and saw data centers go from innocuous to focal points of fierce community debate.
In January, I shared my top 25 questions on business, technology and labor in the Triangle — and the state more broadly — over the next 12 months. We now have definitive answers to many, partial answers to some, and notable developments to each.
I’ll soon share a new set of questions for the new year. But for this week, let’s look back at what 2025 has clarified about the state of the “top” business state.
How are the state’s big lithium battery bets going?
It’s a mixed bag. Between 2021 and 2024, North Carolina welcomed a slew of lithium-ion battery companies promising to hire hundreds at new facilities. Yet slower-than-forecast electric vehicle adaptation, even before President Donald Trump retook office, led to lithium oversupply that complicated North Carolina’s “battery belt” aspirations.
Toyota made the state’s largest battery splash of 2025, shipping its first car batteries from Randolph County in the spring. Most recently, Chinese-backed Green New Energy Materials installed machinery into its battery component separator factory north of Charlotte. “They are hiring, planning for production and hope to begin operations early in the first quarter of 2026,” wrote Kara Brown of the Lincoln County Economic Development Association in an email.
Epsilon Advanced Materials has delayed the launch of its graphite anode material plant near Wilmington from 2026 to 2028, with its CEO Sunit Kapur citing “regulatory requirements, customer alignment, and current market conditions” in an emailed statement.
Back in January, a Forge Nano spokesperson told me his company still planned to start its Morrisville facility in 2026 when it will make niche EV batteries for aerospace and defense applications. Forge did not respond to an update request this week. And the Japanese lithium-ion battery pouch producer Dai Nippon Printing gave a generally vague, and noncommittal, answer to its facility plans in Davidson County, emailing “we are monitoring trends in the EV market and will move forward at an appropriate time.”
Falling lithium prices played a role in dooming North Carolina’s biggest jobs headline of 2024, a promised $1.4 billion sodium-ion battery facility from the startup Natron Energy. But sodium-ion demand fell when lithium became more affordable due to oversupply, and Natron folded in early September.
Will IBM, Red Hat change their language about ‘diversity’?
In March, IBM removed the word “diversity” from its annual report, the first time the company hasn’t used the word in this report since 2016. A large Triangle employer, IBM also ditched a corporate policy that considered diversity hiring when calculating executive pay.
Both IBM and its Raleigh-based subsidiary Red Hat had attracted legal challenges and White House pressure over their efforts to increase workforce diversity. These efforts emerged following the social justice movement of 2020 but have been Trump administration targets.
Will SAS hit the stock market?
Not yet. The Cary software company, which turns 50 next year, reaffirmed its general IPO plans but hasn’t set a date. “Timing is something that we have the luxury of,” new SAS chief operating officer Gavin Day said during an introductory call this spring.
SAS’ 82-year-old billionaire CEO, Jim Goodnight, has teased a public listing before, both in 2000 and in recent years. Their stated reasons include offering employees stock options, attracting talent and raising SAS’ profile. In an email this May to The N&O, SAS spokesperson Shannon Heath said Goodnight also seeks the stock market “for succession planning to position the company for long-term growth.”
How will NCInnovation grow?
On one side, NCInnovation faces an existential crisis. The young nonprofit received $500 million from the state two years ago to help UNC System researchers overcome the dreaded “valley of death” and successfully commercialize their work. But North Carolina legislators in 2025 proposed clawing back some or all of this endowment, potentially torpedoing NCInnovation’s mission. In August, the organization’s CEO announced he’d step down.
On the other hand, NCInnovation continues to award grants. On Monday, it approved funding to 13 new research projects, including efforts to speed wound healing (at NC State), mitigate arm swelling following breast cancer treatments (at Western Carolina University), and detecting early movement delays in children (at App State).
How many Dollar Generals will open in NC?
North Carolina added 45 more Dollar Generals between March 2024 and March 2025, an average of one new store about every eight days. The leading U.S. dollar store chain has 1,121 locations statewide — with many smaller towns supporting several locations within a few miles.
Did Apple reach its hiring goals near Research Triangle Park?
Almost certainly yes. But like much of Apple’s major Triangle plans, the answer isn’t straightforward. Apple’s commitment to build a half-billion-dollar corporate campus in Research Triangle Park came with a North Carolina incentive, which itself came with hiring and investment timelines for Apple to follow: 126 new Wake County jobs by the end of 2023, 378 jobs by the end of last year, and 990 jobs by the end of this month. The iPhone maker’s promised $500 million RTP campus was due by the end of 2031.
Last year, Apple requested a four-year delay on its timelines, which North Carolina this year agreed to after first changing its incentive law.
Apple has already hired hundreds in the Raleigh area, state officials have said, easily exceeding its initial hiring target. “I can share that we continue to grow our teams — both in our corporate offices in Raleigh and at our data center in Catawba, where we have exceeded planned investments,” a company spokesperson emailed me in February. “We look forward to continuing our long history in the state.”
Will Apple share any more details about its RTP plans?
Apple did not respond to my question this week about when it expects to begin building its Research Triangle Park campus. For now, the company leases office space at the MetLife technology campus in Cary and has taken additional floors in a Durham building off Slater Road.
Will Epic Games disclose anything about the old Cary Towne Center?
In January, the Cary-based video game developer Epic Games confirmed that the town of Cary had withdrawn the company’s zoning request to convert the former Cary Towne Center into its new headquarters, citing Epic’s inactivity. “We don’t have any updates to share,” Epic Games spokesperson Cat McCormack told me this week.
When will Microsoft reveal its data center intentions in Person County?
Last year, the major tech company purchased 1,350 acres north of the Triangle in Person County for what many speculate will be a major data center project. Microsoft still hasn’t announced its formal plans, including to local officials, Person County spokesperson Kim Strickland said in an email this week.
But the data center usage appears to be an open secret. The agenda for a county planning board meeting Thursday lists “Microsoft data center expansion and related infrastructure improvements” as one significant change coming to the rural community. When asked about this language, Strickland said the line should have read Microsoft’s “anticipated” data center expansion.
Does the Amazon union in Garner have support to call an election?
Yes to get an election. Decidedly not enough to win the election. In February, workers at the hulking RDU1 facility in Garner voted against unionizing by an almost 3-to-1 vote. Organizers of the independent union CAUSE have since launched an organizing drive at four Amazon facilities in Durham, where they believe they’ll find more success. “We didn’t lose, we learned,” its president said.
Where will NC land on the CNBC list of top business states?
After a lowly second-place finish last year, North Carolina reclaimed its place atop the esteemed CNBC Top States for Business rankings. North Carolina bested runners-up Texas, Florida and Virginia by scoring well in the economy, business-friendliness and workforce categories. “While no state is more politically divided than deep purple North Carolina, both parties seem to agree on the importance of keeping business happy,” CNBC wrote.
Will state incentive votes all be unanimous?
Yes. As CNBC noted above, North Carolina is as politically divided as it gets. However, both parties seem to like big jobs announcements, as the state Economic Investment Committee continues to approve corporate incentive decisions without dissenting votes.
Does Gov. Stein favor battery projects and Japanese businesses as much as his predecessor?
Japanese companies, yes. The country is the largest source of foreign direct investment in North Carolina. This fall, Gov. Josh Stein traveled to Tokyo for the annual Southeast U.S.-Japan event to help recruit more Japanese companies. “They know that there’s great opportunity in North Carolina,” he told me in a phone interview days after returning from his trip.
As for battery projects, enthusiasm for electric vehicle components has dimmed since Gov. Roy Cooper was in office. The state didn’t announce any major battery manufacturing projects in 2025, though it did land a headquarters promise in Charlotte from the electric car brand Scout Motors. “I’m still bullish on electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids, hybrid cars,” Stein said during a Dec. 3 press conference. “Clearly, the market has dipped a little bit. The demand isn’t quite as high as what initial expectations were.”
Will NC tip its plans for the VinFast land in Chatham County?
Come July, North Carolina will have the option to buy back the Chatham County megasite where VinFast had promised to build a 7,500-worker electric vehicle plant. The campus remains flat, and VinFast has postponed opening this factory until at least 2028 — which feels like conjecture at best as the carmaker shifts resources away from North America and toward its Asia operations.
The Chatham land should be desirable to other companies given its proximity to Triangle cities and the amount of money the state allocated to improve surrounding infrastructure. “My team in the Department of Commerce is in regular talks with VinFast to understand what its plans are and what that means for that site,” Gov. Josh Stein told me during a phone interview in November.
Will people choose to rent in RTP?
We’re finding out. This fall, the development company Mid-America Apartment Communities completed construction on 406 units in Research Triangle Park, the first apartments in RTP’s 66-year history. More mixed-use communities could be coming to the legacy economic zone, with Wake and Durham counties recently approving major RTP rezoning.
Will Wolfspeed get acquired?
Not in 2025, but the Durham chipmaker did get new owners. In June, Wolfspeed filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It emerged three months later through a restructuring that allowed its largest creditors to convert their debt into equity.
What tariffs will President Trump enact?
There were a lot of them. While the administration shifted tariff rates throughout the year, customers have already seen cost changes. This October’s High Point furniture market made that clear.
Trump’s tariffs are poised to be an issue during next year’s U.S. Senate race. Former-Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, slammed tariffs during a campaign event last week in Charlotte. Cooper’s opponent, former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley, has previously described Trump’s trade policy as part of an “overall strategy to bring manufacturing back to the U.S.”
What will Trump’s return signal for NC lithium battery and EV projects?
President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” eliminated a $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit created during the Biden administration. And earlier this month, Trump suggested he would cut Biden-era auto fuel efficiency standards, calling them “ridiculously burdensome.”
North Carolina backed a series of electric car and EV battery/charging projects during Gov. Roy Cooper’s second term, including VinFast, Toyota, IONNA, Kempower, Epsilon Advanced Materials, Dai Nippon Printing and Green New Energy Materials. Of course, consumer preferences dictate EV demand too, but the Biden-to-Trump contrast has been stark. North Carolina has pivoted.
“If federal investment is really shifting somewhat out of a clean energy space. One thing we think it’s going to shift towards is defense and defense technology, defense Innovation,” N.C. Secretary of Commerce Lee Lilley, a Gov. Stein-appointee, told me during an interview in June.
Will Holly Springs’ two big biotech factories open without a hiccup?
Amgen and Fujifilm Biotechnologies each opened large drugmaking facilities in the fast-growing southwestern Wake County town this year. Holly Springs continues to be a pharmaceutical manufacturing hotspot, with Genentech this summer breaking ground on a weight-loss injectables plant directly across the street from Amgen’s campus. Ypsomed, a Swiss autoinjector maker, also announced it will invest a quarter billion dollars in a future Holly Springs site.
What will MrBeast do now?
Jimmy Donaldson, the YouTube star known to the masses as MrBeast, spent part of 2025 filming the second season of his reality competition “Beast Games” in his North Carolina hometown of Greenville. A production company associated with MrBeast received $15 million in state incentives to shoot all but three episodes of the forthcoming season in Greenvillle and Wilmington, starting in June, according to new public records obtained by The N&O.
Could Charlotte and Raleigh get driverless car tests?
North Carolina has had self-driving car tests before, and I suspect we’ll see them again soon. In 2025, the leading driverless car company Waymo entered more major cities, including recent expansions into Baltimore, St. Louis, New Orleans, Minneapolis and San Diego. Waymo had preliminary conversations with Raleigh about two years ago, city spokesperson Julia Milstead says, but none since. A city of Charlotte spokesperson told me local representatives haven’t heard from Waymo recently either. Stay tuned.
Will tourists return to Asheville?
A year after Hurricane Helene devastated parts of Asheville and surrounding Western North Carolina, the region’s economic lifeblood of tourism was still lagging. Data from the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority shows local lodging sales were down in July and August compared to the previous four summers, and air travel to and from Asheville dipped almost 8% following several years of double-digit increases.
Hospitality sector employment remained considerably off last year’s pace through August, the tourism authority reported, though it noted in late October that “partners are reporting stronger booking demand as well as more confidence in booking pace through the end of 2025.”
Can Red Hat keep performing for parent IBM?
The Raleigh open source software provider Red Hat continues to fuel IBM’s software reinvention. Since IBM acquired it in 2019, Red Hat has reliably seen double-digit revenue growth. So far in 2025, Red Hat has kept up the pace — notching over 10% growth in each of this year’s three reported quarters. Yet analysts were a bit disappointed in Red Hat’s performance this summer, with some calling it a “speed bump.” “We continue to expect mid-teens growth for Red Hat, albeit at the low end,” IBM said in October.
Will NC biotech funding rebound?
Few industries are more vital to the Triangle economy than biotech. This year saw a handful of local sector funding headlines, with the gene therapy startups Tune Therapeutics ($175 million in January) and Atsena Therapeutics ($150 million in April) topping the list.
Having peaked in 2021, U.S. life science funding overall slumped in 2022 and 2023 amid higher interest rates. In 2025, the sector showed signs of both sluggishness and revitalization, with venture-backed deals hitting a four-year low before surging this summer, according to data from the analytics firm GlobalData. Triangle life science companies that went public during frothy 2021, like Humacyte and Bioventus, are still trading below their initial prices. But with interest rates lower, the sector looks to make its rebound stick in 2026.
Will the two enormous biotech hubs in Morrisville find tenants?
They have. In June, the developer King Street Properties confirmed Morrisville-based Liquidia Corp. as the first tenant signed to enter the massive Triangle Pathway life sciences campus near Raleigh-Durham International Airport. Then in November, King Street announced Novartis would occupy 200,000 square feet inside Triangle Pathway as part of the company’s broader local expansion.
Across the street from Triangle Pathway, Trinity Capital has developed its own big biotech complex called Spark LS. In July, it announced the German company Coriolis Pharma would open a $10 million lab at the Morrisville site.
Clearing my cache
- Scoop: Meta did not renew its lease this summer on a downtown Durham office that once promised to employ 100 engineers.
- While it still plans to make supersonic jets in Greensboro, the Colorado startup Boom Supersonic this week announced it will also build natural gas turbines for data centers. Boom will construct these in Colorado and says their engines are virtually identical to the ones needed to power its future, North Carolina-made jet. The company plans to begin engine testing in 2026.
- Earlier this year, I wrote in Open Source about being overcharged at a local Dollar General — and how North Carolina has a division that checks and fines stores for charging customers more than the labels on the shelves indicate. In the latest round of fines, announced last month, the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Standards Division dinged a Target in Raleigh and a Family Dollar in Charlotte among other violators.
Last week, a feature in The Guardian looked into dollar store overcharging, with a partial focus on North Carolina, and found low staffing to be part of the problem.
National tech happenings
- Streaming wars: Days after Netflix announced it would buy Warner Bros Discovery for $72 billion in equity, Paramount Skydance appealed to Warner Bros shareholders with a hostile takeover offer worth $108.4 billion. Hostile takeovers bypass the wishes of management and appeal directly to shareholders.
- More acquisition news: IBM is buying the real-time data company Confluent for $11 billion as Big Blue continues its shift toward software. IBM is one of the Triangle’s largest employers between its legacy business and Red Hat, which IBM purchased for $34 billion in 2019.
- Apple’s most downloaded app of 2025 in the U.S. is ... ChatGPT.
- Travelers to the U.S. from 42 countries, including allies like Germany and the United Kingdom, would need to show five years of social media history to enter under a new Trump administration proposal.
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This story was originally published December 12, 2025 at 6:30 AM.
