July 2025

Alabama

 

Firms launch $33 million project to build aviation facility at Alabama’s Pryor Field

Aleut Real Estate (ARE) celebrated the official groundbreaking of a new state-of-the-art hangar facility at Pryor Field Regional Airport in Limestone County, Ala. The company is investing $32.7 million in aviation infrastructure. The hangar, which will focus on maintenance, repair and overhaul operations for commercial and military aircraft, is expected to create 50 jobs within three years. Completion by early 2027.

 

TVA considering new $5 billion hydropower project in Northeast Alabama

The Tennessee Valley Authority is looking to invest $5 billion for a hydropower project near Pisgah in Northeast Alabama. The “pumped storage hydropower” facility would bolster the utility during times of strain on its electrical grid.

 

Atlantic Aviation begins work at Birmingham’s airport

A new $40 million project from Atlantic Aviation is underway at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport (BHM). Plans include a new executive FBO, two hangars and shop space. 

 

Arkansas

 

Green Bay Packaging invests more than $1 billion in Morrilton

Green Bay Packaging, a manufacturer of packaging, is expanding its plant in Morrilton with an investment of $1 billion. The investment is the largest in Central Arkansas history. 

 

Weyerhaeuser breaks ground on plant in South Arkansas

Weyerhaeuser Company, one of the world’s largest private owners of timberlands, has broken ground on its new TimberStrand® facility near Monticello and Warren, Ark. The company is investing an estimated $500 million in the facility, which is expected to create 200 high-quality jobs in the region once fully operational.

 

Conveyor Technology expands in North Little Rock with $33 million investment

Conveyor Technology, the largest dealer and repair company for electric drum motors in North America, is expanding in North Little Rock, with an investment of $33 million. This expansion is expected to create 100 new jobs.

 

LaCroix Precision Optics expands in Batesville creating 107 new jobs

LaCroix Precision Optics announced that it will be expanding its manufacturing operations in Batesville, Ark., creating 107 new jobs over five years. The company will be investing $13.8 million as part of the expansion.

 

Florida

 

Oxford Technologies will establish operations in Bay County

The company makes abrasion strips for the Black Hawk rotor blades, and is an important part of Sikorsky aircraft. The $7.5 million investment will create 40 new jobs.

 

Georgia

 

GE Appliances invests $60 million in Georgia plant

GE Appliances announced the completion of a $180 million investment at its subsidiary Roper Corp.'s cooking products plant in Walker County. The investment at the LaFayette plant adds $60 million to the amount that was previously announced, according to a press release. The extra money was put toward increased automation through two new assembly lines, autonomous mobile robots and additional equipment.

 

Another data center is being built in the Atlanta area

A portion of old Fort Gillem property in Clayton County, Ga., will soon be prepped for a  $2 billion data center. Digital Fort Gillem plans to create a 1.9 million-square-foot data center on about 97 acres. Digital Realty is based in Texas and has over 300 data centers around the world.

 

Kentucky

 

Biomass Engineering and Equipment to break ground on new $20 million Kentucky operation, creating 250 full-time jobs

In the spring quarter, Gov. Andy Beshear joined local officials and leaders from Biomass Engineering and Equipment, a maker of equipment for the agriculture, forest products and biomass sectors, as the company broke ground on a new $20 million facility in Muhlenberg County creating 250 quality Kentucky jobs.

 

Commercial Specialty Truck Holdings to expand in Cynthiana, Ky., with $7.5 million investment, creating 50 jobs

Gov. Andy Beshear highlighted new momentum within the state’s manufacturing sector as Commercial Specialty Truck Holdings, a privately held manufacturer of refuse and concrete mixer truck bodies, announced plans to expand operations at the company’s headquarters in Cynthiana.

 

Foxconn plans Louisville facility

Foxconn is investing $174 million in a manufacturing facility in Jefferson County, Ky. The deal will create 180 jobs. 

 

Aerospace manufacturer creating jobs in rural Kentucky

Aerospace Composites Solutions, a design and manufacturer of products that boost aircraft performance, is investing almost $17 million plant in Morgantown. The deal will add 72 jobs. 

 

Louisiana

 

Big deal on the bayou 

Woodside Energy Group announced its $17.5 billion final investment decision for the foundation of its new liquified natural gas (LNG) production and export facility in Calcasieu Parish. Named Louisiana LNG, it is expected to produce up to 16.5 million metric tons (Mtpa) of LNG per year. The announcement takes its place in both state and national history as being the first greenfield LNG project to reach final investment decision under President Trump’s second administration, and is the largest single foreign direct investment and greenfield project in Louisiana history. 

 

North Carolina

 

JetZero to bring thousands of jobs to Greensboro

Another huge aviation win has been captured by one of the hottest places for the industry in the American South -- Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTI) in Greensboro. Honda Aircraft and Boom Supersonic have made some serious “Secret Squirrel” investments at PTI. And now, the “big kahuna” of aerospace deals so far this year is setting up shop there.

 

According to sources, JetZero is the largest jobs commitment in North Carolina history with 14,500 announced jobs with an investment of $4.7 billion. The California-based company has been conducting a nationwide search for a location to manufacture its fuel-efficient aircraft, and company leaders called PTI Airport the “right place” for that facility. JetZero has partnered with United, Delta, and Alaska Airlines. The company hopes to have planes in service by 2030. The factory, slated to break ground in 2026, will produce JetZero’s Z4 airplane, designed to transform commercial aviation by increasing fuel efficiency by 50 percent. The company says cutting the need for fuel reduces harmful emissions. The Z4 will feature a special "all-wing" design and seat up to 250 passengers.

 

Amazon to invest $10 billion in North Carolina for AI infrastructure

Amazon Web Services has announced it is planning to invest $10 billion to launch a new high-tech cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) innovation campus just east of Charlotte in Richmond County, creating at least 500 new high-paying jobs. The new data centers located within the campus will include computer servers, data storage drives, networking equipment and other forms of technology infrastructure used to power cloud computing capabilities and generative AI technologies.

 

Highpoint, N.C., captures Canadian company’s HQ

A maker of sophisticated anti-contamination equipment used in the medical industry is moving its headquarters to High Point. The Canadian-based company is investing $15 million and hiring 35 in the move.

 

Oklahoma

 

Oklahoma Commerce celebrates record job growth

The Oklahoma Department of Commerce celebrated the most successful month of economic development activity in state history. From April 24 to May 28, almost 3,000 jobs were created by just five companies. 

 

Oklahoma selected for historic $4 billion investment from Emirates Global Aluminum

Gov. Kevin Stitt and Oklahoma Commerce announced in the spring that Emirates Global Aluminum has chosen the state for a massive $4 billion plant. The project will create 1,000 jobs. 

 

Oklahoma Space Port announces historic partnership with Dawn Aerospace to bring Spaceflight to Oklahoma

The Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority (OSIDA) recently announced a groundbreaking partnership with Dawn Aerospace that will bring the company’s revolutionary Aurora spaceplane to the Oklahoma Air and Space Port. The agreement will establish Oklahoma as a premier U.S. launch site for microgravity research and suborbital spaceflight, with operations beginning in 2027.

            

Kratos expands U.S. jet engine production footprint with new advanced manufacturing facility, test cells in Bristow, Okla.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, a technology company in the defense, national security and global markets, announced plans to open a new advanced manufacturing facility in Bristow. The $12 million investment will create 50 new jobs. 

 

Firehawk Aerospace investing $22 million in Lawton

Firehawk Aerospace, a defense technology leader, is investing $22 million in a facility in Lawton. No jobs were reported.  

 

South Carolina

 

Tissue manufacturer picks Barnwell, S.C.

Barnwell Tissue Solutions, a tissue manufacturer, announced in the spring it is establishing operations in Barnwell County. The company’s $12 million investment will create 50 new jobs.

 

Tennessee

 

South Korean manufacturer expands ops in Memphis

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Stuart C. McWhorter and Hyosung HICO officials announced the company will expand operations at its U.S. manufacturing headquarters in Memphis, Tenn. Hyosung HICO will invest $51 million and create 123 new jobs in Shelby County as part of its plans to expand operations at its transformer manufacturing facility. 

 

Metals manufacturer to invest $22 million in Northeast Tennessee

Summertown Metals will invest $22.6 million and create 170 jobs in Morristown-Hamblen, Tenn. 

 

Howmet Aerospace to expand Morristown operation

Howmet Aerospace, a provider of aircraft components, is expanding its plant in Northeast Tennessee. The project will create 217 additional jobs.

 

Texas

 

Five-hundred-million-dollar expansion kicks off on Encore Wire campus in McKinney, Texas

Kentucky-based Prysmian North America, which last year bought Encore, began work on June 18^th on a new 650,000-square-foot medium voltage cable facility at the site. The building is expected to open in 2027 and will add 120 jobs, according to an announcement.

 

Billions are being spent from San Marcos to Temple, Texas, on more data centers 

In Central Texas, in the combined areas of Austin and San Antonio, data centers are popping up like daisies. Most of the jobs generated by about 22 data centers announced so far in Central Texas come from the construction of tens of millions in square feet of “the clouds.” We had no idea five years ago how many “clouds” could be built in the South from Northern Virginia to the tip of Western Texas. 

 

It is uncertain whether a “certificate of sustainability” is sustainable so far, as this seems to be the start of a massive data center buildup that in some places like Atlanta are being shunned and even shot down by the locals. Sure, the value of just one of these “clouds” can boost local and state tax rolls, but the insatiable power and water these facilities need to operate is not sustainable until new power sources are developed. . .in some cases, old power plants are being revived.

 

U.S. News & World Report picks El Paso as the No. 2 “Big City to Live in the U.S.”

El Paso is one of the top big cities to live in, according to a report by U.S News and World Report. El Paso beat Texas metros such as Austin, San Antonio, Fort Worth and Houston for the best in the U.S. in 2025 and 2026. The ranking earned by El Paso, according to the media property, was based on its lower-than-average cost of living, warm weather, average commute time, income and rent. The details: El Paso has an average commute time of 21 minutes, a median home value of $175,800, a median household income of $57,754, and a median monthly rent of $883, meaning its cost of living is lower than the national average.

 

SpaceX supplier to invest $100 million in Brownsville, Texas

A major supplier to SpaceX’s launch complex in the Rio Grande Valley is investing $100 million. Linde, an Ireland-based industrial gas company, will hire 90 in the deal. 

 

Fort Worth-built F-35 sees orders reduced

The Defense Department has scaled back its order of 48 new F-35s, reducing the total to 24 amid rising costs. U.S. military orders for Fort Worth-assembled F-35 stealth fighter jets are being scaled back. A U.S. Department of Defense procurement request obtained by Bloomberg News shows that an Air Force order for the aircraft has been reduced from 48 to 24. Air Force officials plan to spend $3.5 billion for the jets, and another $531 million for materials to produce the aircraft. The Navy and the Marines have requested two less aircraft for the 2025 fiscal year. 

 

Finnish company picks Arlington, Texas 

Salcomp, a maker of power supplies for electronic devices, has committed to establishing its U.S. headquarters in Arlington with plans to create 660 new positions, 156 of those at an average salary of $122,000. 

 

Texas’ record $24 billion surplus gives some assurances in an uncertain economy 

While some states are dealing with budget shortfalls, Texas and its $24 billion surplus are operating in a position of strength and with a workforce of 15 million plus. 

 

Global tech firm to invest $687 million in Fort Worth

Wistron Corporation, a Taiwan-based electronics manufacturer, is considering building two support facilities for supercomputer manufacturing in far North Fort Worth, near Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport. If completed, the project will create nearly 900 jobs. 

 

Virginia

 

Medallia launches new corporate office in Fairfax

The customer service management company will invest $2 million with 100 new jobs. 

 

Services firm hiring 100 in Richmond, Va.

Governor Glenn Youngkin announced that Medallia is investing $2 million to expand operations in existing Tysons Corner office space. Medallia is a customer and employee experience management company that provides software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions to help organizations gather data and act on feedback from customers and employees in real time. The project will create 100 jobs.  

 

Acoustical Sheetmetal Company wraps up good deal in Virginia

The company, a manufacturer of highly engineered steel and aluminum enclosures for the power generation industry, will invest $45.8 million to expand its operations by building an additional 250,000-square-foot building and adding significant machinery to complement its operation in the City of Virginia Beach. The project will create 350 jobs.  

 

Back-office deal to create over 200 jobs in NOVA

Technomics, a firm specializing in data- and analytics-driven decision support services, will invest $5 million to expand its operations in Arlington County, Va. The company will add 25,200 square feet of office space to accommodate its growth, creating 248 new jobs. Virginia successfully competed with Washington, D.C., for the project.

 

Amazon locates its fourth Virginia robotics fulfillment center to Goochland County

Amazon is building its fourth Virginia robotics fulfillment center, RIC6, in Goochland County, creating more than 1,000 jobs. RIC6 will be a 3.1 million-square-foot facility with a 650,000-square-foot footprint on a 107-acre parcel.

 

Ice cream plant expands in Virginia

Nightingale Ice Cream is investing $5.8 million to move its production and headquarters to Richmond. The deal will create 166 new jobs. 

 

Satellite communications company expanding in Fairfax, Va. 

Iridium Communications is expanding its facility in Fairfax County. The $13 million project will create 117 jobs. 

 

Sumitomo expanding in Chesapeake, Va. 

Sumitomo Drive Technologies is investing $9.3 million in its distribution center in the City of Chesapeake. Forty-two will be hired. 

 

LEGO Group to build major warehouse

The LEGO Group is investing $366 million to build a new 2 million-square-foot warehouse in Prince George County. The facility will house 305 workers. 

 

Hitchi Energy expands footprint in Southwest Virginia

Hitchi Energy, an electric grid infrastructure maker, is investing $22 million and hiring 120 to expand in Bland, Va.