North Carolina, Weaverville, devasted to learn major employer to shut down its facility. Thermo Fisher Scientific

WEAVERVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — Thermo Fisher Scientific will permanently lay off hundreds of workers and eventually close its Weaverville-area facility, according to a WARN notice filed with the North Carolina Department of Commerce, providing new details about the scope and timeline of the closure.

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.

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“The first reaction, I mean, is that we just had our community Citizens Academy meeting last night, and one of our sessions was on general government,” Harris said. “So we talked a little bit about budget and how opinions and formulating the budget goes into that. So then getting this news today, 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 with forecasted revenues and forecasted expenditures and with the growth that we are experiencing across the town.”

Harris said the impact extends well beyond municipal finances and directly affects families who live and work in the community.

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