W. L. Gore & Associates will embark on an ambitious expansion in Phoenix that will add 150 jobs this year with a long-term plan to create up to 800 positions at a new campus for the company’s fast-growing medical-device division.

The Newark, Del.-based company will launch its Phoenix expansion at a leased facility at 19th Avenue and Happy Valley Road while it searches for a large chunk of land in north Phoenix to build a campus that could include up to five buildings.

Phoenix officials on Thursday said Gore’s expansion is welcome news for the region’s economy and the timing couldn’t be more fortunate, just one day after US Airways tapped Pittsburgh over Phoenix for a 600-employee flight operations center.

Arizona Republic