CHAPEL HILL – PolarOnyx, a California-based advanced laser 3D manufacturing company, recently relocated to Chatham County from Silicon Valley, and has now purchased an existing building and will control more than 142,000 square feet in a building located off U.S. Highway 15-501 that will accommodate the production and workspace needs for the company and its employees.

“This move will create many new jobs in North Carolina and enable PolarOnyx to expand the emerging 3D printing business,” said Shuang Bai, director of PolarOnyx, which was founded in 2002, in a statement published by the Chatham County Economic Development Corporation.

PolarOnyx

The company declined to designate a specific job creation target, but according to Michael Smith, the president of Chatham Economic Development Corporation (EDC), it selected the area due to a belief in the Triangle’s talent market for highly specialized, technical roles, and a comparison between the Triangle’s cost of doing business and the cost of living and Silicon Valley’s.

The company designs, develops, and manufactures products for the medical industry, defense and aerospace markets.

“We’re delighted to welcome PolarOnyx to Chatham County, and grateful for the work of the EDC and related agencies in attracting more high-quality jobs to our area.” said Mike Dasher, Chairman of the Chatham County Board of Commissioners in a statement.

The company relocated on January 1, 2021, according to its website, though the announcement of the selection of this facility came this week.

The company holds more than 33 patents on technology relating to fiber lasers and laser 3D manufacturing, and seeks to disrupt traditional laser processing and 3D manufacturing in the industries additive manufacturing, material processing, biomedical imaging and spectroscopy, nondestructive inspection (NDI), optical communications, and optical sensing.

Chatham County is home to Siler City, where the Chatham Advanced Manufacturing (CAM) site is based, and Moncure, where the Triangle Innovation Point (TIP) site is based, and Smith noted that both state-certified mega sites boasting 2,000 acres of development opportunity continue to be on short lists for companies considering expanding or relocating to North Carolina.

“The announcement of new jobs and investment in Chatham County by PolarOnyx is great news for our citizens,” said Michael Smith, president of Chatham Economic Development Corporation (EDC). “These advanced laser 3D manufacturing jobs from a Silicon Valley company moving to the Triangle is another example of our strong workforce and quality of life attractions.

Smith noted that his office partnered and collaborated with the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, Chatham County, and Central Carolina Community College on this project.

PolarOnyx is actively hiring for positions at their new Chapel Hill location including production technicians, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, mechatronics engineers, laser processing engineers, and software engineers.

For more employment information, visit http://www.polaronyx.com/employment.php.