- Roughly two dozen U.S. manufacturing facilities are under construction with about $500B committed, while Avison Young tracks 124 proposed or announced projects worth $3.4T in potential investment.
- Tax incentives from the CHIPS Act and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act are driving the groundbreakings, led by chips, with pharmaceutical, automotive and aerospace projects following.
- Most new plants rely on advanced robotics rather than large production crews, so the buildout will create more specialized jobs than traditional factory work.
U.S. manufacturing construction is surging, with about two dozen plants underway and roughly $500B in committed capital, according to Avison Young. The brokerage is also following 124 proposed or announced projects that could total $3.4T.
Tax incentives that have survived changes in administration are behind the wave, Bisnow reports.
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Incentives Drive the Starts
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed by President Donald Trump, widened tax breaks for factories beyond semiconductors. Some current projects also draw on the Biden-era CHIPS and Science Act, and the trade war has nudged companies to produce domestically.
Peter Kroner, Avison Young’s lead industrial researcher, expects groundbreakings to speed up through year-end and described the trajectory as a hockey stick. In his view, the roughly 18-month stretch of uncertainty is behind the market.
Not Your Grandfather’s Factory
Technology companies dominate the biggest projects, followed by drugmakers and automakers. Aerospace is expanding quickly from a smaller base as drone development and private spaceflight grow.
Craig Van Pelt, head of research at Cresa, said most of these plants will run on advanced robotics instead of large crews. The workers required are more technical, and he does not expect a return of steel-mill-style employment. He also cautioned that permitting and site prep take a long time before production starts.
The Largest Projects
TSMC leads with $100B in Phoenix, where it started a third fab in April 2025. The company expanded the planned site from $65B to $165B in March 2025 and added another $100B in July, lifting its Arizona total to $265B. In central New York, Micron’s $100B plant in Clay broke ground in January and should start producing chips in 2030.
Micron has also committed $30B for Boise, Idaho, and an upgrade in Manassas, Virginia, and says its overall U.S. pledges exceed $250B. Elon Musk’s Terafab in Grimes County, Texas, is a $16.8B, 100M SF campus planned for 2028 delivery, with 3,000 jobs promised by Gov. Greg Abbott’s office.
Eli Lilly picked a Houston-area site from more than 300 proposals for a $6.5B plant that will make its first oral GLP-1 obesity drug and employ 600-plus people. Two other Lilly plants, $5B near Richmond and $6B in Huntsville, have yet to start building.
Hyundai’s $5.8B steel mill in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, covers 1,700 acres and will eventually turn out 2.7 million metric tons a year with 1,300 direct jobs, but it still lacks an air permit. Rivian’s $5B Georgia plant is moving forward on a smaller $4.5B Department of Energy loan, and SK Hynix is building a $4B, 133-acre memory packaging hub in West Lafayette, Indiana, that will tie into Purdue research.
Why It Matters
For industrial investors, the pipeline points to durable demand for big sites, power and nearby logistics space, even if these plants employ fewer people per square foot than older factories. It also sits alongside an industrial pipeline that is rebuilding.
Single-user campuses are reshaping local markets, as Bayer’s New Albany plans for a $2.2B pharmaceutical campus show.
What’s Next
Kroner expects another leap in groundbreakings by year-end. Permits can still slow funded projects, as Hyundai’s pending approval shows, so watch how many of the 124 proposals convert into construction starts.
