Automotive manufacturing corporation DENSO will hold its grand opening of the new Maryville plant Friday.
The new facility is 335,900 square feet and will produce advanced systems for automakers shifting to electric and autonomous vehicles.
The $1 billion investment is expected to create more than a thousand jobs.
"6,000 employees across the state, over $3 billion in investment, the fact that they were here and decided to grow here is significant," Gov. Bill Halsam, R-Tennessee, said.
"No company is doing more exciting new technology in autonomous driving and the cars of the future and it's all happening right here in Blount County, Tennessee," Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, said.
APPLY: Densocareers.com
The Maryville plant manufactures various car parts for clients like Honda, Toyota, GM and Ford.
Production will begin in Spring 2019.
The company hopes to make the Blount County facility a primary manufacturing center in North America for electrification and safety systems.
The company has two locations in the state in Maryville and Athens.
DENSO Manufacturing Tennessee Inc. is the largest DENSO operation in North America. It currently employs 3,500 hundred people at its Maryville facilities. It consists of four manufacturing plants on 194 acres and is Blount County’s largest employer, according to the company.
In total, DENSO employs roughly 4,500 people in Tennessee. The DENSO Corporation is based in Japan and operates in 36 countries.