In January 2014, it was announced that American corporation Amphenol was going to open a factory in Macedonia, using the existing factory of Atom, from Kochani. Amphenol announced that in the first phase, the company will invest six million euros and employ 1,500 people in the first five years.
In March 2015, the plant was visited by the Prime Minister at the time, Nikola Gruevski, and after meeting with management, he announced the opening of six new Amphenol plants, which would require for 2,500 to be employed in total.
"It was expected for the amount of investment to increase from the 16 million euros, as it was planned initially, to 20-25 million. The six plants for different products will be stationed in the Technological Industrial Development Zone Vinica, which is located on the triangle between the municipalities of Vinica, Kochani and Zrnovci and will absorb employees from across the region, including other municipalities in the vicinity," stated Gruevski son March 7, 2015 in Kochani.
Three weeks later, at a political rally in Shtip, information was shared that the investment was planned for the second quarter of 2015.
"Today, I want to announce that in the second quarter of the year, 2 to 3 months from now, we will prepare for the officially signing of the contract with this company and they will immediately start with the construction of their facilities and the employment of workers," said Gruevski at the of end of March 2015.
A year later, on March 30, 2016, Amphenol, with its announcement of a third factory, was mentioned by Gruevski again.
"In addition to the company operating in facilities which were a brownfield investment, with an area of about 6,000 square meters in the industrial zone in Kocani, they have built a new building that is a greenfield investment of additional 5,000 square meters, which should be ready by June-July of this year," explained Gruevski in March 2016.
In June 2016, Amphenol Technology opened a new production facility which manufactures cables for air bags, used by the automotive industry.
Several months later, Amphenol was promoted once more in a speech by Gruevski.
“Amphenol already has two plants and three plants in Kochani. The construction of the third factory and the fourth plant should be completed by mid-2017, and it would create 400 new jobs. With all their factories, existing and new, Amphenol will have offered 2,500 new jobs," said Gruevski.
According to the abbreviated financial statement, at the end of 2015, Amphenol had 515 employees, while the non-current assets of the company were estimated at 3.3 million euros.
In 2016, the number of employees increased to 1,135.