The Forum - 07/12/2003
Alien touches down: California company decides on NDSU site
Alien Technology announced Friday it will locate a 120,000-square-foot manufacturing site at North Dakota State University.
That leaves state and local officials drooling over the prospects of spin-off companies that could find Fargo attractive.
Alien said it will be operational in 2005 and bring 300 jobs to Fargo by 2006. By the end of the decade, the company will need 1,100 employees at an annual payroll of $55 million.
The Morgan Hill, Calif.-based company is a leading producer of radio frequency identification products, or “smart tags.”
The Fargo plant will be capable of manufacturing billions of radio frequency identification labels per year.
But even bigger than landing Alien is the potential for luring other high-tech companies, said Tony Grindberg, executive director of NDSU’s Research and Technology Park.
Companies that manufacture products that complement the tags, including antennae, supply chain management software and scanners, likely would want to locate at NDSU to capitalize on the research, he said.
“This puts North Dakota, Fargo and NDSU on the front end of the curve,” Grindberg said. “The impact of other jobs is equally as important as Alien being here.”
Grindberg said Fortune 500 executives will be visiting Fargo-Moorhead to do business with Alien.
“This will make those Fortune 500 companies take a look at being here,” he said.
Alien’s president and CEO Stav Prodromou made the announcement Friday afternoon. North Dakota was selected over several other sites, including Asia, he said in a statement.
The facility will be in NDSU’s Research and Technology Park, west of Phoenix International Corp. Phase one of construction calls for a 40,000-square-foot building. Phase two will add 80,000 square feet.
North Dakota has committed $35.8 million to the project through low-interest loans, state and federal job training programs and private sector funds.
Equipment for both phases is projected to cost $17.5 million. Both phases of the building will cost about $13 million.
“The state of North Dakota has stepped up in a big way with this funding package,” said Gov. John Hoeven.
Alien initially said it would need $50 million, but the company was able to get that number down, Grindberg said.
NDSU President Joseph Chapman said securing the deal with Alien puts the less than 3-year-old Research and Technology Park a decade ahead of similar facilities.
“This is the fulfillment of a dream,” Chapman said. “It doesn’t get any better than this.”
Alien will help Fargo compete internationally and bring high-paying jobs to the state.
“We’re talking about a whole new generation of technology,” Hoeven said.
Brian Walters, president of the Fargo-Cass County Economic Development Corp., said Alien officials contacted his office for information about Fargo-Moorhead’s work force.
“I think the work ethic and the work force here were selling points for bringing them here,” Walters said.
Alien officials, too, he said, were intrigued with the fact that Fargo-Moorhead not only has NDSU, but a strong, educated work force with Concordia College, Minnesota State University Moorhead and Northwest Technical College-Moorhead.
“We are at the forefront of a major revolution in technology,” Grindberg said.
Amy Dalrymple, adalrymple@forumcomm.com, (701) 241-5590
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