May 2026

REGIONAL

 

Nvidia and Corning announce huge deals in North Carolina and Texas

In May, Corning and Nvidia revealed plans to build three new manufacturing plants in North Carolina and Texas with the creation of more than 3,000 new jobs in the two states. The plants will produce advanced optical connectivity solutions needed to power next-generation A.I. infrastructure. Corning will expand optical connectivity manufacturing by 10 times and fiber production capacity by 50 percent, due almost exclusively to A.I. factory build-outs. Corning’s increased capacity will supply Nvidia’s hyperscale data centers. 

 

In the press release, Jensen Huang, founder of Nvidia said, “A.I. is driving the largest infrastructure build-out of our time and once-in-a-generation opportunity to reinvigorate American manufacturing and supply chains.” 

 

Wendell P. Weeks, CEO of Corning said, “What Nvidia is doing is nothing short of extraordinary, not just for the future of artificial intelligence, but for the American advanced manufacturing workforce. The partnership is proof that A.I. is not just a technology story. It is a manufacturing story and it is happening here in the United States. 

 

Florida-based NextEra Energy acquiring Virginia’s Dominion to form super energy giant

As demand for power soars due to the A.I. data center build-out, the energy landscape is reforming. In May, Jupiter, Fla.-based NextEra Energy announced plans to acquire Dominion Energy in an all-stock deal. NextEra is one of the nation’s largest utilities. John Ketchum, CEO of NextEra, said recently that with electricity demand expected to rise by more than 20 percent in the U.S. by 2035, that we are in “America’s golden age of power demand.” If approved by the FERC, which determines how grid-operator mergers will effect competition and rates, the two companies would become the world’s largest regulated electric utility business by market capitalization. 

 

NextEra’s press release noted that the companies would maintain dual headquarters in Florida and Richmond, Va., and its operational headquarters in South Carolina. 

 

Duke Energy announces 2.7 GW of new energy service agreements in data centers

Duke Energy CEO Harry Sideris announced in May that “nearly two-thirds” of those 7.6 GW as of Q1 2026 in data center agreements are already under construction. He also said, “We recognize that we’re in a once-in-a-generation build cycle.” For the first time in history, data centers led all industry sectors in the South in large projects announced in 2025, and that number has increased in 2026. For decades, the automotive industry has led large industry announcements in the South. Duke Energy operates across North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. 

 

The Carolinas are experiencing a major migration population boom

North Carolina and South Carolina are seeing a wave of migration from other U.S. states, specifically New York and California as some there are choosing the Carolinas over ever-popular Texas. This growth includes families, individuals and retirees alike as Baby Boomers are now aging out of the workforce in record numbers. 

 

A report by Oxford Economics in the spring quarter showed that North Carolina saw the highest net domestic migration of any state in 2023. South Carolina has recently become the fastest growing state in the nation by percentage growth. Charlotte and Raleigh remain big draws, but Greenville, S.C., and Myrtle Beach have captured nearly 100,000 new residents each over the last few years. Housing costs remain one of the factors in moves from the Northeast and the West to the Carolinas since 2023. 

 

Pratt & Whitney to invest more than $100 million in Arkansas, Florida and Texas

Pratt & Whitney, an RTX subsidiary, is investing in its MRO facilities in Irving, Texas, West Palm Beach, Fla., and Springdale, Ark. In addition to these investments in MRO, Pratt & Whitney invested $70 million in its engine center in Columbus, Ga., in the spring quarter. 

 

ALABAMA

 

Lockheed Martin breaks ground on new missile plant in Troy

According to Reuters, Lockheed Martin broke ground in late May on a new 87,000-square-foot Munitions Productions Center at its defense products campus in Troy, Ala. The new facility, called Building 47, will be used for new lines for Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missiles. Lockheed Chairman, President and CEO Jim Taiclet said at the groundbreaking ceremony, “Today we mark an important step forward for our nation’s defense industrial base.” 

 

According to a release, the plant is part of an $8 billion to $9 billion investment plan through 2030. In that plan, Lockheed has broken ground on a new plant this year in Camden, Ark., and plans to modernize more than 20 defense facilities in Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Massachusetts and Texas. Lockheed has said in previous reports that it wants to quadruple THAAD interceptor production from 96 units annually to 400. It also agreed to triple annual output of Patriot PAC-3 interceptors to 2,000 units. The project is expected to add a “significant number of jobs over the next three years.” Lockheed already has 4,000 employees in Alabama and that looks to rise to 4,500 soon. 

 

Transformer manufacturer announces big Alabama deal

Virginia Transformers will manufacturer industrial power transformers at a new 600,000-square-foot facility in Colbert County, Ala. Over 1,000 jobs are expected to be generated in the capture of the project. The Roanoke-based company is the largest power transformer manufacturer in North America. The plant will be built on about 90 acres within the Shoals Research Airpark, where Norfolk Southern operates a rail spur. 

 

New data center is moving to construction phase in Columbiana, Ala.

A new 40 MW data center campus in Columbiana is now being built, after a colocation agreement was made between Digi Power X and Cerebras Systems. Cerebras is a wafer-scale chip company and Digi Power X is in Bitcoin mining. The site represents Digi Power X’s transition from high-density Bitcoin mining to institutional-grade A.I. and high performance computing. Again, construction began immediately after the agreement was reached as the campus is a long-term, revenue-generating asset anchored by a committed customer. 

 

Japanese electronics manufacturer is undergoing $500 million expansion

Japan-based JST will build an automation-based facility in Guntersville’s Conners Island Business Park. Guntersville has been home to a small JST facility since 2003. The company, which makes electronic connectors and supplied all of the cable assemblies for The Las Vegas Sphere, is investing $500 million in the robotic plant and will hire 80. 

 

GE Appliances announces $28 million investment at facility in Decatur, Ala.

GE Appliances, a Haier company, is upgrading its manufacturing operations in Decatur. The announcement will also include a new on-site primary care clinic for employees and their families. GE Appliances employs about 1,600 people in Alabama. 

 

Blue Origin adding 100 jobs in Huntsville

Aerospace company Blue Origin is adding another 100 jobs to its current 1,600 employees in Alabama. In early 2020, the company celebrated the opening of its 350,000-square-foot Engines Factory at Cummings Research Park to produce the BE-4 that powers Blue Origin’s New Glenn and United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan and the BE-3U used in the New Glenn upper stage. 

 

Financial service deals are getting frisky: StoneX hiring in Birmingham

StoneX Group, a Fortune 500, New York-based financial services company, is growing its office in Birmingham. The firm is adding 90 jobs. After a dismal 2025 in financial services deals, that sector has already announced more projects so far in 2026 than last year. 

 

ARKANSAS

 

Italian company electronics manufacturer plants flag in North Little Rock

Electrical substation manufacturer CEP USA is investing $1 million in their facility in North Little Rock, Ark. The deal will create 27 new jobs. 

 

Gowan Milling expands in Blytheville, Ark. 

Gowan Milling is expanding its capacity in producing herbicide pan granulation and suspension concentrates for farmers and general agribusiness in the area. The nearly $9 million expansion will create 34 new jobs. 

 

Arkana Laboratories celebrates grand opening in Little Rock

Diagnostic pathology leader Arkana Laboratories opened its new lab in Little Rock in May. The new lab provides same-day biopsy services for patients around the nation. The $24 million investment further expands the lab’s three-decade existence in Little Rock. 

 

Another steel deal in Mississippi County, Ark. 

Marubeni-Itochu Steel America announced plans in the spring quarter to build an advanced flat-rolled steel processing plant in Osceola, Ark. The new $37 million investment will bring 35 new jobs to the county, which makes more steel than any county in the U.S. 

 

Cable maker expands in El Dorado, Ark. 

AmerCable announced plans to expand its existing operations in El Dorado, where it makes jacketed electric power cables and has since 1978. The $10 million deal will create 13 new jobs. 

 

FLORIDA

 

Blue Origin announces major Florida expansion

In late May, Blue Origin announced the expansion of its rocket park campus at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. The $600 million capital investment on Florida’s Space Coast will include an 830,000-square-foot upper stage manufacturing facility. 

 

Called “Project Horizon,” the deal “is the latest and most ambitious chapter in Blue Origin’s decade-long commitment to Florida,” said Dave Limp, CEO of Blue Origin. “Since 2015, we’ve scaled to nearly 4,000 employees, invested more than $2.3 billion across 500 Florida suppliers, and expanded to 11 sites across Brevard and Orange Counties. And we’re just getting started.” The latest expansion will create 500 jobs averaging about $100,000 in annual pay per job. 

 

Collins Aerospace expanding in Tampa Bay region

Collins Aerospace is investing over $25 million to expand its Largo, Fla., facility to expand capacity of its commercial aviation radars and multi-domain security solutions for its defense customers. RTX is Collins’ primary owner and that company employs more than 7,000 people in eight locations throughout the state of Florida. This specific deal will create 100 new highly skilled jobs. 

 

Huge radiopharmaceutical hub announced in Tampa Bay

A coalition led by Speros and Moffitt Cancer Center announced in late May plans to build a “regional ecosystem” around radiopharmaceutical therapies. The therapies include cancer drugs that combine radioactive isotopes with other treatments that attack tumors at the cellular level. 

 

The partnership, called the Florida Oncology and Radiopharmaceutical Growth Engine (FORGE), includes Embarc Collective, the University of South Florida and Pasco-Hernando State College. While additional funding for the project is required, the media property Tampa Bay Business & Wealth wrote that “Organizers project the effort could create roughly 4,000 jobs and generate $2.6 billion in economic impact across Florida over the next decade. 

 

Smart Radar Systems (SRS) picks Osceola County, Fla., for HQ and advanced manufacturing hub

South Korea-based SRS is investing $53 million for a new headquarters and plant in NeoCity in Osceola County. NeoCity is a 500-acre technology district that combines research institutions and private industry in a campus setting. The radar made by SRS is used in vehicles and smart-city infrastructure. The deal will create 190 jobs. 

 

BioStem to build new headquarters at FAU Research Park in Boca Raton, Fla. 

Regenerative firm BioStem Technologies announced in late May it will develop a 52,000-square-foot headquarters facility with an investment of nearly $50 million in Boca Raton. Job counts were not reported, however the average annual payroll for staff is projected at $81,000. 

 

Amcor relocating its headquarters to Miami

Global packaging leader Amcor is relocating and consolidating its U.S. headquarters to Miami from Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin. It also operates other headquarters in Switzerland and Australia. The company makes flexible and rigid packaging and sales have topped $20 billion annually. 

 

Playboy expands Miami Beach HQ
The Hollywood-to-Miami Beach relocation of entertainment company Playboy is getting larger. The famous brand announced the relocation of its headquarters from Southern California to South Florida in the summer 2025 quarter. Founded by the late Hugh Hefner, Playboy is now located in a luxury office building called Rivani in Miami Beach. The new digs are being expanded to almost 26,000 square feet and include a restaurant, members-only spaces and multimedia content studios. 

 

Otto Aerospace clears key design milestone for business jet to be made in Jacksonville

Otto Aerospace has completed a design review for its Phantom 3500, a new business jet that the Fort Worth company hopes to build at a $430 million facility at Jacksonville’s Cecil Airport (the old Cecil AFB Field). The review takes the company one step further to actually starting up a private aircraft full-assembly manufacturing hub. 

 

GEICO is expanding its new campus in Tampa: More than 1,000 new jobs

GEICO announced in the spring quarter it is bringing more than 1,000 new jobs to the Tampa Bay region. The automotive insurer is adding to its substantial base in Florida, with campuses in Tampa, Jacksonville and Lakeland. This latest expansion adds 190,000 square feet of space at its campus near the Tampa International Airport. 

 

GEORGIA

 

Rivian’s Georgia plant one step closer to opening

Electric vehicle maker Rivian has renegotiated a loan from the U.S. Department of Energy down to $4.5 billion from $6.57 billion. The lowered loan will enable Rivian to draw on it sooner, but it also lowers its total production capacity at the Georgia plant to 300,000 EVs a year. Rivian reported that production of the company’s R2 electric vehicle is on track to be built in Georgia in late 2028. Ground breaking at the plant occurred last year in Social Circle, Ga. 

 

Mercedes-Benz North America announces new R&D center in Atlanta

Mercedes has inked space in West Midtown Atlanta to bring a new tech hub to the city. The German automaker relocated its U.S. headquarters from New Jersey to Sandy Springs, a suburb of Atlanta, in 2018. In May, the company announced that it would relocate 500 employees from Michigan to create a base in Atlanta for all of North America. The $34-million tech center is an addition to all of that activity. Mercedes-Benz also holds the naming rights to the stadium in downtown Atlanta that is used by the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United and its two largest U.S. plants -- Daimler in South Carolina and Mercedes in Alabama -- are close by its Atlanta home. 

 

Google to build $8 billion data center in LaGrange; its second in Georgia

In addition to the LaGrange data center, Google operates another multi-billion-dollar center in Douglas County. This latest will create 100 jobs and close to 1,000 construction jobs. 

 

Porsche Cars North America leases large space in Spalding County, Ga. 

Porsche, which has its North American headquarters in Atlanta, has leased an 806,000-square-foot warehouse in Spalding County. The big box will serve as a regional parts distribution hub. 

 

Metal fab manufacturer announces big deal in Macon-Bibb County

In May, Unified Legacy announced it is investing $125 million in a new manufacturing facility in Macon, creating 500 new jobs. The company makes complex components for the defense, aerospace, data center and industrial markets. 

 

KENTUCKY

 

Uzbekistan’s AFKA Group breaks ground on aluminum facility in Bowling Green

AFKA broke ground in May on a new aluminum facility in Bowling Green. The project will result in 331 new jobs.

 

Poland-based manufacturer locates first Kentucky operation in Louisville

Displate Manufacturing, a maker of metal poster artwork, plans to locate in Louisville with a $9.5 million deal that will create 79 jobs. 

 

Averitt to build new regional campus in Bullitt County

Tennessee-based transportation and supply chain firm Averitt announced it is building a $113 million regional campus in Bullitt County, Ky. The deal will add 64 jobs. 

 

U.S. Smokeless Tobacco plans new facility in Hopkinsville

U.S. Smokeless Tobacco, a maker of moist smokeless tobacco, is building a new facility in Hopkinsville. The deal will create 200 jobs. The plant is replacing the one in Nashville that has been there for over 100 years. It is closing next year. 

 

LOUISIANA

 

Turner Industries hiring 1,000 in New Iberia and Port Allen facilities

Turner Industries, a leader in industrial construction, fabrication and maintenance, announced two nuclear fabrication facilities across two regions of Louisiana. The sites in New Iberia and Port Allen will be dedicated to the production of high-precision modules and nuclear-grade piping for the next generation of reactors and modular power plants across the country. The facilities are designed to meet the rigorous quality standards required by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The company is expected to create 1,000 jobs, 500 at each site. 

 

Air Liquide invests $350 million to strengthen Louisiana footprint and support Hyundai Steel project on Mississippi River

Air Liquide is investing more than $350 million in Louisiana to expand industrial gas production and infrastructure, supporting Hyundai-POSCO Louisiana’s (HPLS) new low-carbon steel facility and advancing a growing ecosystem of next-generation manufacturing along the Mississippi River. Air Liquide will add a new Air Separation Unit (ASU) in St. James Parish at the existing Koch Methanol facility and expand pipeline infrastructure along the Mississippi River. These upgrades will deliver the oxygen, nitrogen and argon needed for Hyundai-POSCO’s steel production while also increasing capacity and efficiency at the current facility.

 

American Sugar Refining breaks ground on $785 million modernization project

In May, American Sugar Refining broke ground on the first phase of a $785 million modernization project at the Domino Sugar Chalmette refinery in St. Bernard Parish. The refinery is the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The deal will create 15 jobs and retain 500. 

 

Timber company expanding in Louisiana

David Timber announced it will invest $1.9 million to expand it Beauregard Parish operations in DeRidder in Southwest Louisiana. The company is adding 12 jobs. 

 

MISSISSIPPI

 

Azuria Water Solutions to open underground facility in Batesville, Miss. 

 

The story of Chatham County, N.C.: "State of North Carolina sues startup EV-maker VinFast to reclaim Chatham County factory site."

By Michael C. Randle

 

When I first heard that a startup EV company named VinFast was taking over a site near another site I walked in Chatham County, N.C. in 2012, I had to think twice. The Vinfast site was in Moncure, also in Chatham and near the site I walked. The automaker is from Vietnam. 

 

Back then, the megasite I saw was called the Chatham-Siler City Megasite and owned in part by Tim Booras, a successful alcohol distributor in the Research Triangle. Tim and Diane Reid hosted SB&D employees Shelly Jo “The Elf” Jacobs, my son Matthew Randle and me in 2013 or 2014. 

 

Diane Reid was the economic developer then for Chatham, and she set the facts straight for this story in a matter of minutes. I had originally thought that VinFast had taken part of the Chatham-Siler City Megasite, but I was wrong. Again, while both sites are in Chatham County, VinFast took another site in nearby Moncure. (We put Diane in the Southern Economic Hall of Fame a couple of issue's back and her successor, Michael Smith there in Chatham.)

 

When VinFast announced in the Tar Heel State, which has failed for decades with so many auto plant deals, including Mercedes in 1993 (Toyota in Randolph County, N.C., is an exception), I thought, “Damn, that is a reach; a long-shot.” 

 

Then, at about the same time VinFast announced, chipmaker Wolfspeed took Tim Booras' site. I thought, “Well, that is more like it! Everybody has been chasing computer chip factories since I got into this business four decades ago. Good for North Carolina and good for Chatham.” So, I was proud of Tim. 

 

Wolfspeed has built its plant on Tim's land, but it is struggling. Again, I thought of Tim and Chatham County. 

 

The Wolfspeed situation

I won’t go into detail about Wolfspeed’s troubles, specifically its massive multi-billion factory sitting on the land owned by Tim Booras. Let’s just say, a good portion of their chips would have been used in EVs, which VinFast would put in their cars made nearby. 

Here is part of an article from Construction Review published in February about Wolfspeed’s troubles. 

 

“Even with a massive new factory nearing completion (in Chatham County, N.C.), external market conditions turned fiercely negative. The expected smooth ascent of the EV market, the main driver of demand for SiC chips, unexpectedly decelerated, particularly in North America and Europe. 

 

“This EV slowdown weakened the appetite for Wolfspeed’s core products. Simultaneously, an aggressive surge in production capacity, especially from Asian competitors, created a market oversupply that immediately led to significant pricing pressures on silicon carbide wafers.” 

 

So, double trouble for Chatham County and Tim Booras and his partner, as well as the owner of the site in Moncure. Sad. 

 

Large economic development deals are gambles: Those with pre-paying customers are not, like some of the data centers going up today, and LNG plants in Louisiana and Texas. The two Chatham deals so far are “reaches” and “longshots,” as apparently the VinFast deal is not a deal. It is a dog. 

 

Early “longshots” in the Southern Automotive Corridor

I recall vividly when the Japanese built plants in first Kentucky and later Tennessee (Toyota and Nissan) in the 1980s. Just about everyone thought those deals were “reaches” and “long-shots.” Today, those two plants are two of the oldest continuously-operated, full-assembly automotive facilities in the Southern Automotive Corridor, domestic or foreign.

 

Even BMW in Greer, S.C., and Mercedes-Benz in Vance, Ala., were considered “longshots” at the time. The New York Times certainly thought so. Yet, both of those plants send more than half of their units to over 100 countries around the world. BMW and Mercedes have been models of success and reliability, in more ways than one. 

 

Then again, so many of those EV plants popped up between 2021 and 2024, that I just figured, “Well, why not?” Thing is, about half of those announced EV plants are either delayed or have been cancelled. 

 

Like the dot-com boom and bust (late 1990s), the banking crisis during the Great Recession (2007-2009), the EV craze (2021-2024) and now data centers and A.I. (2024-2026), there are going to be winners and losers. It happens when something becomes “all the rage” in economic development. 

 

North Carolina sues to get the VinFast site back in Chatham County

North Carolina is suing Vietnamese electric vehicle manufacturer VinFast for breach of agreements, according to The Carolina Journal. Attorney General Jeff Jackson filed the suit on behalf of the North Carolina Department of Commerce in May. “VinFast agreed to build a factory and create jobs for North Carolinians – it didn’t do either,” Jackson said in a press release. 

 

VinFast’s original investment of $3 billion and 7,500 jobs at the height of more than $250 billion in EV investment “announcements” made in the Southern Automotive Corridor from 2021 to 2024, is one of about half of those long list of big deals that have not panned out or have been delayed. 

 

The SAC captured about 64 percent of all EV deals spurred on by federal legislation during the Biden administration that were announced during those four years, burying Detroit. Again, about half of those have not been built. 

 

And Tim Booras, landowner, bit on one deal – Wolfspeed -- that was most likely much better than the VinFast deal nearby. 

 

Let's hope Wolfspeed makes it. I know hard Tim worked on that site. He deserves it. 

 

Big pharma deal in Durham, N.C. 

AbbVie announced in May a new $1.4 billion pharmaceutical manufacturing campus in Durham. The 185-acre campus will combine advanced manufacturing, a lab and technologies using A.I. in the production of the company’s immunology, neuroscience and oncology medications. The project is expected to create 734 jobs. 

 

JP Morgan Chase is investing in the nation’s No. 2 banking hub

The new corporate office in the giant SouthPark development located south of uptown Charlotte can house 1,000 workers with 400 of those new hires announced in May. The new hires come at a time when A.I. is displacing workers at many banks, but a company spokesman said, “No computer or A.I. bot is going to replace humans in a relationship business.” 

 

Nucor celebrates grand opening of $440 million steel plant in Lexington, N.C.

A $440 million micro mill by Nucor has opened in the Carolina Core region of North Carolina. The project is expected to create 200 jobs in the Lexington area. 

 

Tennessee-based Averitt Express to hire 230 near Charlotte-Douglas airport

Averitt Express, the logistics transportation provider, is building a large logistics center about seven miles from the Charlotte Douglas International Airport. 

 

Gun maker moves HQ to North Carolina’s Rockingham County

Sturm Ruger announced in May it is moving its headquarters from Connecticut to Mayodan, N.C. The town is home to its largest manufacturing facility. 

 

Caterpillar adds 600 jobs at plant in Sanford, N.C. 

Texas-based Caterpillar is adding workers at its compact trade and skid-steer loader plant in Sanford, located in the Research Triangle region. The plant has been in operation since 1999. 

 

Robotics firm expands HQ in Chapel Hill

Blue Sky Robotics is expanding its headquarters in downtown Chapel Hill, N.C., creating a projected 152 new jobs. The company makes A.I. vision software that makes robots more intuitive and effective. They help companies across multiple sectors to solve complex manufacturing and logistical challenges. 

 

BioSpherix opens Center for Cytocentric Technology in Winston-Salem

Cells culture systems firm, BioSpherix, has opened its Center for Cytocentric Technology in Winston-Salem’s Innovation Quarter. The opening paves the way for a larger effort by the company to establish regional R&D hubs in its cell-first bio manufacturing approach. The center is located adjacent to the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the world’s largest regenerative medicine research facility. 

 

OKLAHOMA

 

Spacecraft maker announces Tulsa deal

Quantum Space, a company building the next generation of advanced maneuverable spacecraft for defense and commercial space operations, announced the establishment of a new manufacturing facility in Tulsa, Okla. The facility will serve as the company’s primary site for large propulsion tank manufacturing and precision spacecraft parts production, initially creating up to 50 high-skill jobs, with expected expansion as the production scales.

 

The Tulsa facility expands Quantum Space’s growing U.S. manufacturing footprint, complementing its propulsion integration and test capabilities in Hawthorne, Calif., and its engineering and mission development headquarters in Rockville, Md. Together, these facilities form a distributed manufacturing and development network designed to support the production, integration and operation of the Ranger spacecraft fleet, expanding its U.S. manufacturing capacity to support a growing pipeline of missions and future fleet deployment.

 

Meta breaks ground on data center in Tulsa

In the spring quarter, local and state leaders joined Meta to break ground on the company’s newest data center in Tulsa, representing an investment of more than $1 billion and marking one of the largest economic development projects in the region’s history. The Tulsa Data Center is expected to support more than 1,000 construction jobs at peak and create approximately 100 operational jobs once completed. This will be Meta’s first data center in Oklahoma, 28th in the U.S., and 32nd in its global fleet.

 

The Tulsa Data Center, located at the Fair Oaks 2,000- acre industrial innovation park in East Tulsa, will span more than 2 million square feet. Meta is the first anchor tenant at Fair Oaks Innovation Park, Oklahoma’s first REDI Site, a new national standard for evaluating readiness for industrial development. This project will play a critical role in supporting Meta’s global infrastructure while delivering meaningful local impact.

 

SOUTH CAROLINA

 

U.S. sugar candy category leader to invest $675 million, projected to create 1,000 new jobs over 10 years

Ferrara Candy Company, a leading sugar confectioner in the United States, Brazil and Europe, announced plans to establish its first South Carolina operation in Orangeburg County. The company’s $675 million investment is projected to create 1,000 manufacturing and corporate jobs over the next 10 years. 

 

Perimeter security provider investing $69 million in The Palmetto State

AMAROK, a perimeter security solutions provider, announced in the spring quarter it is investing $69 million to expand is operations in Richland County, S.C. The project will create 296 jobs. 

 

Idealworks to set up its new U.S. HQ in Greenville County, S.C.

Idealworks, a company that improves industrial operations into fully automated environments, is establishing its headquarters in Greenville County. The company is a BMW Group subsidiary and BMW operates its largest North American plant nearby. The company uses robotics and other automation to improve efficiency. 

 

AVM Group announces HQ in Charleston County

AVM specializes in cleanrooms, dry rooms and advanced electromagnetic interference and radiation shielding. The headquarters deal will create 30 jobs. 

 

Keel to invest $67 million to expand in Charleston

Defense manufacturer Keel, a maker of heavy and complex steel plate fabrications, is investing $67 million in Charleston County. The project will create 170 new jobs. 

 

TENNESSEE 

 

Ford ends BlueOval City joint venture in West Tennessee; SK takes control of battery plant and Ford will build gas truck there

According to the Memphis Flyer, SK On, a South Korean EV battery maker, took full ownership of the battery plant at BlueOval City in Stanton, Tenn., in late May. The space encompasses 4 million square feet. The new company is named SK On Tennessee. The company will maintain a “strategic partnership” with Ford according to the “Flyer.” 

 

In a related matter, a Ford subsidiary took full ownership of two Kentucky battery plants in Glendale, Ky., in the split with SK. There, Ford is retooling those battery plants for energy storage as opposed to EV batteries. 

 

Also related to the site in Tennessee, Ford initially planned to build an EV version of its popular Ford 150 pickup. That is scrapped for now. Ford now will make a gas version of the pickup at the six-square-mile BlueOval City campus in Stanton, which is located adjacent to SK’s battery plant. 

 

Tennessee captures huge Starbucks deal

In the spring quarter, the state of Tennessee landed Starbucks’ Southeast corporate office in Nashville. The global coffee maker and retailer will invest $100 million in the deal and will hire up to 2,000 in the project. Starbucks is seeing rising consumer demand in the South and specifically in the Southeast. The new office will work directly with the company’s global headquarters in Seattle. Today, Starbucks operates 41,000 coffeehouses throughout the world. 

 

Austin-based SpaceX buys 785,000-square-foot building in Memphis

In May, SpaceX paid $185 million for a 785,000-square-foot data center in Memphis. According to sources, it is xAI’s first data center. SpaceX acquired xAI in February of 2026 for $125 billion. 

 

U.S. Smokeless Tobacco shutting downtown plant in Nashville after more than 100 years

Downtown Nashville will change a bit as Altria and its U.S. Smokeless Tobacco plant closes in early 2028 after more than 100 years of operating under different corporate names. U.S. Smokeless plans to consolidate operations to modernize its manufacturing while it is relocating the work to a new facility in Hopkinsville, Ky. The company is offering employees to apply for positions in Hopkinsville and Richmond, Va., where Altria is headquartered. 

 

Big deal in rural Gibson County, Tenn. 

Few people know that the Gibson County Courthouse is painted red and orange. We do. There in Humbolt, Reinhausen, a maker of transformers and other grid-automated technologies, is investing $6.7 million and creating 90 jobs. 

 

Manufacturer picks Putnam County, Tenn., for 288-job deal

LEV Manufacturing, a maker of Rad Power Bikes, is investing $7 million in Algood, Tenn. The electric bike manufacturing and assembly operation will house nearly 300 workers in a 100,000-square-foot facility. 

 

Stella-Jones to create 230 jobs in Fayetteville, Tenn. 

A new steel lattice tower manufacturing facility is going up in Lincoln County. Stella-Jones is investing $45 million for its first U.S.-based steel structure manufacturing operation. Over 200 jobs are expected to be created. 

 

TEXAS

 

WHOA! Toyota plans $2 billion investment in Texas 

By Michael C. Randle 

 

Editor’s note: I was involved somewhat in Toyota’s first Texas plant location more than 20 years ago in San Antonio. I received insider information, as Toyota site search guru Dennis Cuneo is still a friend. We have known each other for over three decades. 

 

So, when that site search was going on, there were detractors when San Antonio was mentioned and somehow it took the lead, with negative comments like, “San Antonio is not a manufacturing town” and “San Antonio is way west of the spine of the “Southern Automotive Corridor,’” which at the time was Interstate 65 from Alabama to Louisville. There you will find in any direction most of the automotive assembly plants in the SAC, including Mercedes, Hyundai, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Ford and GM. But, Cuneo and others at Toyota, which then had its headquarters in Northern Kentucky and California – now, Plano, Texas – thought of the San Antonio site as a marketing idea. . .a marketing ploy. Why? Because more pickups are purchased in Texas times 1 million, they thought, possibly, “Let’s put the plant in Texas,” and there it went. 

 

So, now to this new deal announced in May:

 

Toyota plans a $2 billion expansion of its manufacturing operations in Texas, home of its North American headquarters

Japanese automaker Toyota is expanding U.S. auto capacity at its auto assembly operation in San Antonio. According to filings with Texas economic development officials, “Project Orca” includes an estimated $2 billion investment in its Toyota Texas Manufacturing Campus, which has produced the Toyota Tundra pickup and Sequoia SUV for two decades. The site has some real advantages, with direct access to Interstate 35, and it is close to major suppliers in Northern Mexico. Toyota has established a large parts supplier network onsite and nearby in the San Antonio region, specifically south of the city center. The $2 billion-dollar expansion is expected to create 2,000 jobs.

 

WHOA! SpaceX looking at Grimes County, Texas for $55 billion plant (that is with a “B”)

SpaceX is proposing a semiconductor manufacturing and advanced computing facility where a coal-fired power plant once operated in the rural town of Gibbons Creek Reservoir, Texas. Called the SpaceXAI Terafab project, a public hearing notice in May estimated capital investment in the initial phases could total $55 billion. The site of the former power plant already has major energy transmission access and a history of large-scale energy use. Grimes County is located near College Station, Texas. 

 

Texas’ list of big deals has been impressive in Q2 2026

Another big deal has been captured by Texas so far in 2026. Electronics manufacturer Celestica has chosen Fort Worth for an $876 million project. The Canadian company plans to hire about 1,700 in the deal. The deal supports equipment needed for data center infrastructure. 

 

Musk expanding near Austin with Optimus 4 robot project

Elon Musk is expanding his Giga Texas plant in the Austin area, where Tesla EVs are made to produce up to 10 million humanoid robots a year. His factory in Freemont, Calif., is targeting 1 million robot units per year in 2026, and the Texas factory is slated for 10 million a year in 2027. The robots are being designed to redefine manufacturing, labor and even the entire U.S. economy. They are not simply factory drones. Musk envisions a general-purpose robot that learns like a human. 

 

Musk has been quoted saying, Optimus will “significantly impact U.S. GDP,” calling it “10 times bigger than the next biggest product ever,” such as the iPhone. He sees it solving the $38 trillion U.S. debt via deflationary abundance and easing poverty with endless labor. Construction and worker training has already started on the line that will produce the Optimus 4 robot.

 

SpaceX announces large expansion in Bastrop County, Texas

Equipment installation is well underway at SpaceX’s $280 million expansion near Austin in Bastrop County. The deal is part of the company’s broader A.I. and semiconductor ambitions. The expansion will add about 1 million square feet of space on the site, enabling in-house production of packaged silicon and Starlink hardware. The new facility will house about 400 workers. 

 

Blue Origin focuses on big deal in Williamson County, Texas

In May, state and regional economic development agencies issued a request for information (RFI) on behalf of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space company. Sites within 15 miles of Interstate 35 in the Austin metro area in Williamson County are being assessed. The project is expected to be valued at about $1 billion, with as many as 2,200 jobs created. The area is viewed as a “space corridor” with Firefly Aerospace, National Aero Stands and Valken Industries in operation there. Blue Origin also operates Launch Site One near Van Horn, Texas, 120 miles from El Paso. Since 2015, that site has launched 36 flights of the New Shepard rocket. It should be noted that one of Blue Origin’s largest rockets blew up in a test at Cape Canaveral on Florida’s Space Coast in May, obviously forcing the company into somewhat of a retreat for the time being. 

 

Good things (?) just keep happening in Austin

In Q1 2026, the Austin region set its strongest venture capital quarter in history, with at least $4.2 billion in funding, according to Opportunity Austin. In all of 2025, Austin-area companies raised $7.8 billion. Much of the new funding went to defense startups, such as autonomous boat company Saronic. 

 

Another chips-for-data-centers-and-A.I. deal pops up in the Austin area

Q.ANT, a German semiconductor firm working to develop energy-efficient chips for data centers and A.I., is opening its U.S. headquarters in Austin. The area, including Williamson County, Bastrop and other places all over the Austin region, are seeing similar deals pop by the dozens lately. The startup is somewhat of a pioneer in commercial photonic computing. The whole idea behind Q.ANT is to reduce energy consumption in data centers. Founded in Stuttgart in 2018, it plans to enter the U.S. market to localize chip manufacturing. Many sources have estimated that U.S. companies will invest $690 billion into A.I. this year. 

 

Chip supplier relocates from Austin to Cedar Park, Texas

Ambient Array, which located its headquarters in Austin to supply Samsung’s massive fab facilities there, is picking up and moving to Cedar Park, Texas, an Austin suburb. The supplier is following a trend by others that are moving to the suburbs in what is probably the most active economic development metro anywhere in North America, considering what is happening with all of Elon Musk’s deals in and around Austin. 

 

Four of the five fastest growing cities are in North Texas

Census data released in May showed that Celina, Texas, was America’s fastest-growing city from July 1, 2024 to July 1, 2025. During that period, Celina’s population growth saw an increase of 24.6 percent. The No. 2 fastest growing city was Fulshear outside of Houston. The other three of the top five were in North Texas, including Melissa, Princeton and Anna. 

 

Taiwanese electronics manufacturer plans McKinney, Texas project

Lite-On Technology is considering purchasing two buildings in McKinney for a $300 million investment that would bring electronics manufacturing to North Texas. If concluded, the deal would create about 500 jobs. 

 

SEG Solar announces new solar manufacturing facility in Texas

Houston, Texas has captured a new 4-gigawatt solar manufacturing facility. SEG Solar announced the 500,000-square-foot plant in May. The $200 million investment will create 800 new jobs. 

 

Turkish power plant worth $4.5 billion going up at the Port of Brownsville

According to the San Antonio Business Journal, Karpowership, a Turkish power producer, plans to acquire land at the Port of Brownsville to build a $4.5 billion energy project. The deal could generate up to 700 jobs. 

 

Semiconductor plant expands in Pharr, Texas

Semiconductor manufacturer Avant Technology is investing $22 million and adding 250 jobs to its plant in Pharr. The plant produces solid-state drives and memory chips used by the automotive industry as well as other industries. Pharr is located near the Mexican border in the Rio Grande Valley. 

 

Another data center-based manufacturing facility expands

Applied Optoelectronics is investing $279 million in Sugar Land, Texas, to increase production of chips and optical transceivers that are used in A.I. data center equipment. The deal will create about 500 jobs. 

 

VIRGINIA

 

Loudoun County captures $750 million battery energy storage facility

Omaha-based energy company Tenaska has announced plans for a $750 million battery energy storage facility in Northern Virginia. Loudoun County is home to about 200 active data centers with more than 100 announced or in the pipeline. Battery storage facilities keep data centers running during peak grid use and outages. 

 

Jabil establishing new manufacturing site in Prince George County, Va. 

Jabil, a maker of power distribution systems and solutions for Siemens, is adding 352 jobs in Prince George County. The demand for power and its suppliers continues to set records in virtually every category from jobs to investment in Virginia and the South in general. Jabil is headquartered in St. Pete, Fla., and has 140,000 employees globally. 

 

Defense contractor creating jobs in NOVA

Innovative Defense Technologies is investing $19 million to expand its operations at its headquarters in Arlington, Va. IDT delivers mission-critical solutions that accelerate the delivery and fielding of complex, software-driven capabilities for the U.S. military. The project will create 210 new jobs. 

 

Innovative Refrigeration Systems adding jobs in Virginia

Innovative Refrigeration Systems, a provider of advanced industrial refrigeration, cold chain and temperature-controlled infrastructure solutions for complex and mission-critical facilities, will invest $19 million to expand operations at its Augusta County manufacturing campus. The expansion will support recent biopharma manufacturing investments in Virginia and make it easier for medication to reach hospitals, pharmacies and other healthcare providers across the nation.

 

Another defense contractor expands in NOVA (Northern Virginia)

TurbineOne, Inc., a California-based defense technology firm specializing in AI-powered machine learning software solutions, will establish its headquarters in Fairfax County, creating 22 new jobs through a $424,000 investment. As part of this expansion, TurbineOne will develop T1 Edgeworks, an innovative, experiential learning site designed to showcase the advanced capabilities and real-world applications of its technology.