The Associated Press is reporting that Gateway Inc. has picked Nashville for the company's first U.S. manufacturing facility employing 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.
According to the report, the facility is scheduled to open as early as October and will begin recruiting workers Monday. 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 workforce'' as a factor in the site selection. The Nashville area also is home to a Dell Inc. manufacturing plant and distribution center.
Company spokeswoman Erin Davern said that after a yearlong nationwide search for a new site, Gateway chose Nashville because it is close to supplier warehouses and three major interstates. ''Nashville is widely known as one of the pre-eminent shipping hubs in the U.S.,'' Davern said.