NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly announced earlier this year that Integra Technologies will build a new semiconductor factory in Wichita as a result of an incentive package from the APEX legislation passed in 2022.
APEX stands for Attracting Powerful Economic Expansion, and allows for incentives to be offered to attract targeted industries that plan to invest more than $1 billion to the Kansas economy by expansion or relocation of their business anywhere in Kansas.
Alan Cobb, CEO of the Kansas Chamber, believes the program is working as intended, so far.
"You've got these two mega projects," Cobb said. "I know there's some discussion about expanding APEX to be able to take on additional projects. I guess I have a little hesitancy there. Let's see how these work."
The first project is the Panasonic battery plant in DeSoto. Panasonic hopes to begin production in the spring of 2025. Once complete, the facility will primarily produce lithium-ion batteries to supply to Tesla.
The Integra project is still contingent on receiving federal funding, too.
"Everyone, I think, is pretty excited about the Panasonic plant and then the announcement out of Wichita of a second APEX project," said Democrat Rep. Jason Probst, who serves on House Commerce. "We're going to have a bill hearing on extending the sunset on that and making some technical adjustments to kind of clean that up a little bit and make sure that we can continue using that as a tool going forward."
One of the important differences between the two projects is where the investment is coming from.
"The key questions are, but for these incentives, would these companies come or expand? Those are always difficult questions to answer," Cobb said. "One thing that's certainly different about Integra than Panasonic is that Integra is already in Wichita. They are employee owned, headquartered in Wichita. They've been there."
If not extended, the project would sunset at the end of 2023.
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