Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said Canon plans to invest an additional $600 million in the two operations.

Canon Virginia Inc. will hire more than 1,000 workers at its Newport News operation and a subsidiary in Gloucester County, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine announced yesterday.

Calling this "spectacular news for Virginia," Kaine said Canon plans to invest an additional $600 million in the two operations.

Japan-based Canon makes copying machines and other industrial imaging equipment.

The Newport News plant, visible from Interstate 64, has been in Virginia since 1985. It employs nearly 1,500 people.

The state will provide a $20 million Major Eligible Employer grant, which is available for Virginia companies that make a new capital investment of $100 million and create at least 1,000 jobs. In addition, the Governor's Opportunity Fund will provide $1.5 million to assist Newport News with the Canon Virginia project.

For the Gloucester project, Kaine approved a $500,000 performance-based grant from the Virginia Investment Partnership program.

The Gloucester operation, Canon's Industrial Resource Technologies subsidiary, recycles toner cartridges and reclaims cartridge materials. This part of the expansion is expected to create jobs beyond the 1,000.

The Newport News plant expansion will include the construction of a new manufacturing facility for repairing and refurbishing Canon products.

Kaine said a key driver of the expansion decision was the development of a pipeline to recruit and train the new employees. The Virginia Community College System provided the pipeline, he said, by agreeing to deliver 880 technicians and supervisors over three years.

Canon's IRT subsidiary has been in operation in the Gloucester Business Park for 10 years.

In the 1980s Canon officials checked more than 100 sites in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Georgia before picking Newport News for its first U.S. copier plant.

Contact Tyler Whitley at (804) 649-6780 or twhitley@timesdispatch.com.