NJ Awards First Next NJ Manufacturing Tax Credit to AI-Supply-Chain Company in Warren

New Jersey’s first award under the Next New Jersey Manufacturing Program is going to a newly formed advanced manufacturing company planning a major project in Warren.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority announced that tax credits were approved for Starman New Photonics, LLC, a U.S.-based company looking to manufacture high-speed optical transceivers used in AI infrastructure.

Starman plans to invest $150M to renovate a 100K-square-foot facility in Warren, which it projects will create 250 new jobs.

The company qualifies for $7.5 million in tax credits each year for the first five years of a ten-year commitment to NJ, coming to a $37.5M total.

Just to be clear, this is NOT an AI data center. This is more about making the things that go into an AI data center, the manufacturing part. Don’t want my people in Warren to stroke out.

So this is a win for Warren and Somerset County, but it is also a public subsidy going to a private company that feeds into the AI supply chain, so some basic accountability questions connect to that:

What jobs are required?

What wages are promised?

What happens if the jobs don’t materialize?

What clawbacks or enforcement tools does the state have?

What local approvals, permits and infrastructure impacts come with the Warren facility?

How will the public know whether the $37.5M led to the results they were promised?

The money does connect to legitimate public policy goals:

The company is promising a large investment, a renovated facility and jobs, and this stuff needs to be produced somewhere.

Additionally, Starman appears to exceed the minimum requirements NJEDA established for the credits.

So, on its face, this comes across as a fair deal, a win-win.

Still, residents should be able to get clear answers to the local questions:

What local approvals are required?

Is any zoning or planning board action involved?

Are there local tax, infrastructure or redevelopment implications?

This may be a good project. But when public tax credits are involved, the public should be able to see the terms of the deal and track whether the promised jobs and investment actually happen.

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