It's easy to understand why the RFMD merger matters to the mobile phone industry: It creates a major supplier to one of the most important growth businesses on the planet. And phones are just the beginning -- we're headed into an era of mobile devices and smart machines that will take us far beyond the handsets we use today. 

But this is also a huge deal for Greensboro. We need HQ jobs and advanced manufacturing jobs. We need companies to build around as we create a new economic ecosystem to replace the one devastated by globalization, automation, the financial crisis, and corporate consolidation. 

NewCo fits the bill on all those particulars. It's the kind of business that could easily attract and sustain other good companies. Along with HondaJet, it's one of the best things we've got going for us.

GSO, Guilford County, and the State of NC should already be working on ways to keep the merged company here and encourage growth around it. This is a very big moment. Please don't blow it. 

Comments

[Hartzman]

"GSO, Guilford County, and the State of NC should already be working on ways to keep the merged company here"

What are you suggesting?

[Ed Cone]

Anything from worker training at GTCC to tax incentives. State and local econ dev folks should be thinking hard about the entire mobile food chain. It starts with phone calls from the Governor and Nancy Vaughan. Don't wait.