New economic investment in Tennessee is as brisk as it is diverse.

In March 2008, German-based Wacker Chemie chose Bradley County for a $1 billion facility to make hyperpure polycrystalline silicon, a primary component used in the manufacture of solar panels and semiconductors. The project, the third billion-dollar investment the state landed in an eight-month span, is expected to create more than 500 jobs.

It follows Hemlock Semiconductor, the world’s largest maker of polysilicon for the solar industry, selecting Clarksville for a silicon plant, an investment that could potentially top $2 billion and create 900 jobs. Volkswagen is building a $1 billion assembly operation in Chattanooga.

Asurion, the cell phone insurance provider, is spending another $100 million and adding 800 more jobs in Nashville over the next five years.

Brewing Up Knoxville Expansion

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters will spend $55 million and hire more than 300 people as its new operation in Knoxville gets brewing. DeKalb County will see 200 new jobs as Star Manufacturing expands its commercial cooking appliance plant.

Site Selection magazine in November 2008 ranked Tennessee as the second-best business location in the United States, up from No. 7 in 2007.

In the last five years, companies have invested $27 billion in capital and created 167,000 new jobs – two-thirds of them from expansion of existing business. Tennessee also attracted 43 corporate headquarters during the same period.

Site Selection’s annual survey of company executives found that regulatory procedures, existing workforce skills and transportation infrastructure to be the top three business considerations.

For Green Mountain Coffee, based in Waterbury, Vt., East Tennessee was a perfect spot for its expansion.

“As we visited, we loved the feel of Knoxville and the whole feel of East Tennessee,” says Jon Wettstein, the company’s vice president of operations.

The company started its logistics study in January 2008, closed on a former wall covering distribution building in July that year and started production in September.

“Everything was right,” Wettstein says. “We’ve got a lot of growth to happen in Knoxville.”

Science Applications International Corp. is growing, too. SAIC, a technology services provider, in 2008 set up a Shared Services Center in Oak Ridge, where it has been in operation for 30 years.

The expansion added 150 jobs, bringing employment to 800 full-time workers. “SAIC was drawn to the Oak Ridge area because of its stable work force, modern telecommunications infrastructure, favorable business environment and attractive quality of life,” says spokeswoman Melissa Koskovich.