Minnesota officials on Thursday confirmed plans to provide $3.5 million in state money to help Dutch health tech giant Philips expand its operations in Plymouth.

Philips Image Guided Therapy, a division of Philips, will use the funds to expand its Plymouth facility that opened in 2019. Company representatives said the move is expected to add 158 new jobs at the plant, which employs about 300 people today.

The $3.5 million originates from two separate pools of state money: $1,540,500 comes from the Job Creation Fund and the remainder from the Minnesota Investment Fund. The former is a loan program that focuses on industrial, manufacturing, and technology-related industries, while the latter is a grant program.

Philips had been considering other locations outside Minnesota for the expansion, CCX Media reported in fall.

“This is centered in Plymouth for a reason,” said Gov. Tim Walz, who held a press briefing on Thursday morning to tout the expansion. “If a company settles, they need to have housing for their employees, quality public schools, infrastructure. That’s something that this community has invested in.”

Philips representatives said the average salary for workers at the plant is expected to top $100,000. The expansion is expected to cost $31 million in total, and it will include a new medical technology training center, which Philips said could see 2,000 visitors annually.

Philips isn’t the only out-of-state entity to take in state dollars to expand in Plymouth: Back in 2021, California-based med-tech firm Silk Road Medical was given $675,000 to open a new office in the city. That funding also originated from the same two pots of state money.

Greater MSP Partnership CEO Peter Frosch said that Philips plans to teach employees how to incorporate artificial intelligence tools into their work at the plant. “There is a lot of talk everywhere about AI and whether it’s going to create any jobs,” he said. “That’s what’s happening here, and AI is being put to productive use solving problems that really matter to people and communities.”

Walz added that Philips will help boost domestic manufacturing.

“You hear a lot about bringing manufacturing back to America; we couldn’t agree more with that,” the governor said. “I think this team and this collaboration under the vision of Philips, that’s how you bring manufacturing back. Those are the jobs you want to see.”