From Staff Reports 

WEAVERVILLE, N.C. — Thermo Fisher Scientific notified state officials and the public on June 9 that it will permanently lay off 421 workers and eventually close its Weaverville-area facility, AI Overview stated on Jan. 18.

A WARN notice filed on June 9 with the North Carolina Department of Commerce “provided new details about the scope and timeline of the closure,” Asheville television station WLOS (News 13) reported later Jan. 9.

The WARN notice, dated Jan. 8, states that 421 employees at Thermo Fisher’s facility at 275 Aiken Road in Asheville will be separated as operations are phased out. 

The first layoffs are expected to occur Dec. 31, 2026, with additional separations continuing through Dec. 31, 2027. The notice says the separations will be permanent and that the facility will ultimately close.

Thermo Fisher confirmed the phase-out earlier in a statement to News 13, saying it is evaluating its global operations and aligning with current customer demand. Certain product lines will be transferred to other Thermo Fisher facilities in the U.S. The company did not disclose job numbers in that statement.

The following is Thermo Fisher’s statement:

“We want to emphasize that our top priorities throughout this process are ensuring business continuity for our customers and supporting our colleagues with care and respect.”

In the aftermath, Weaverville Town Manager Scottie Harris stated that the closing announcement —in AI Overview’s summary of his response — “was unexpected, even though he knew business had slowed since the pandemic boom. He noted that losing its largest employer and taxpayer is a significant blow to the town.”

Specifically, Harris said of the closure, “It’s devastating to our budget itself and what that looks like as we wrap up budget season now and try to match revenues to it,” according to AI Overview.

Meanwhile, Harris told News 13 that the announcement came as the town already was deep into budget planning and that the plant closing’s impact extends well beyond municipal finances and directly affects families who live and work in the community.

“That’s an unfortunate part of it,” Harris told News 13. “We hate to lose any mercantile or business or anything, even a small restaurant in town. I mean, it’s not just tourism dollars that we rely on, but it’s also the families and the community atmosphere that we try to create in this town.”