South Carolina runs on three anchors most coverage treats as separate stories rather than one state's real economy. Boeing assembles the 787 Dreamliner at its North Charleston final-assembly plant, the only 787 line outside Everett, Washington -- a real, hard-industrial counterweight to Charleston's tourism-and-port reputation. BMW Manufacturing in Greer, near Spartanburg, is BMW's largest plant in the world by volume, not a satellite factory -- the Upstate corridor around it has become a real auto-supplier cluster in its own right. Michelin North America is headquartered in Greenville, the same Upstate region, a direct descendant of the textile-mill economy that once defined the Piedmont before advanced manufacturing replaced it. Columbia, the state capital, anchors state government and the University of South Carolina. None of these four -- Charleston, the Upstate, Columbia, and the Rock Hill corridor already counted in Charlotte's own edition -- are the same economy, and this edition doesn't flatten them into one.
Region Stats
Total firms
49
VC / investors
6
Companies
27
Schools
16
Known For
Aerospace
Advanced Manufacturing
Textile Legacy
