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SAN JOSE - 11/01/03 - GE Nuclear Energy, a unit of General Electric Power Systems, is relocating its global headquarters from San Jose to Wilmington, NC, after receiving a job development investment grant from North Carolina.

The value of the state grant is $5.9 million over its nine-year life.

GE Nuclear is expected to create 200 jobs with an investment of about $4 million. It will be expanding its existing facility in Wilmington, which already employs nearly 1,600 workers from the GE Aircraft Engines and Nuclear Energy divisions.
 
According to the San Jose Business Journal, the relocation will begin this year and will continue with transitions through 2005. The estimated average salary for the 200 jobs is $100,000 a year.
 
GE Nuclear had been in San Jose for about 35 years. About 100 jobs, at the outside, will  be affected, a General Electric spokesman said. Some employees will be transferred, while other positions will be filled locally.

The loss of the headquarters is the latest blow to Silicon Valley, which has seen more than 200,000 jobs lost in the past three years.

"We must sound the alarm without sounding alarmist. California is hemorrhaging jobs. We must stop the bleeding and make California business-friendly state," said Anthony Marek, spokesman for the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, which represents major employers in the region.

"We continue to see harm done to business by the state government. There are well-meaning folks up there [in Sacramento] but this is an incredibly competitive global marketplace. GE could have gone anyplace, not just North Carolina."
 
But California's business climate was not a major factor in GE's decision, the spokeswoman said. "San Jose has a lot of attributes that we like and we plan to maintain a presence there."

She says nine out of ten of GE Nuclear's customers are in the eastern US. The move puts the unit closer to its customers, she said.
 
"We don't want a major Fortune 500 company to leave town for any reason. It's discouraging from a psychological standpoint," said San Jose City Councilman Dave Cortese.
 
Marek said the move did not come as a surprise to the manufacturing group. GE had been talking about leaving for several years. Just before the high-tech downturn, there was talk of building a computer server farm at the site.
 
GE Nuclear Energy is the fifth recipient of the North Carolina job development investment grant program.

"Using the JDIG, we are bringing 1,580 jobs and more than $50.5 million in investment to our state," Tarheel Gov. Mike Easley says in a written statement. "This targeted tool is proving effective in recruiting companies to North Carolina."

The North Carolina Department of Commerce worked with the Wilmington Industrial Development Committee, New Hanover County Commissioners and Progress Energy in recruiting the company to North Carolina.
 
"Since first locating our fuel business unit in Wilmington, the environment in the state of North Carolina has been excellent and has laid the foundation for locating our global headquarters here," says Andrew White, president and CEO of GE Nuclear Energy in a written statement.

White, whose office is located in Wilmington, was not available for comment.

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