Gateway picks Nashville for new plant

Computer maker Gateway Inc. announced Wednesday it has picked Nashville for the company?s first U.S. manufacturing facility and will employ 300 people in the first year.

The plant will assemble Gateway’s custom-ordered desktop and notebook computers, servers and storage arrays and provide integration and software services.

The facility is scheduled to open as early as October and will begin recruiting workers Monday, the company said. It will join Gateway’s current manufacturing facilities in Malaysia, France, Germany and Ireland.

The company estimated an annual payroll of about $8 million. Gateway Chairman and CEO Rick Snyder cited the state’s “very capable work force” as a factor in the site selection.

The Nashville area also is home to a manufacturing plant and distribution center for Dell Inc., a Gateway competitor.

Company spokeswoman Erin Davern said that after a yearlong nationwide search for a new site, Gateway chose Nashville because it was close to supplier warehouses and three major interstates.

“This announcement is a positive win for technology business growth in Tennessee,” Gov. Phil Bredesen said in a statement. “The higher-skilled, better-paying jobs that Gateway will bring to Middle Tennessee falls right in line with the type of economic opportunities we’re working to create all across the state.”

Gateway will move into an existing facility between Nashville and the suburb of La Vergne southeast of the city, said Dawn Rutledge Jones, spokeswoman for the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development.