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💴 This Week in Manufacturing

This week’s manufacturing news highlights a new kind of competition shaping America’s industrial revival. Merck’s $3B biopharma facility in Virginia shows the continued reshoring of critical production, while Texas Instruments’ outlook reveals how semiconductor recovery remains uneven. But the biggest wildcard is the AI data-center boom, now drawing the same labor and grid power manufacturers need. Together, these trends capture the next challenge of U.S. industrial policy—how to grow both digital infrastructure and physical production without starving either.

Our headlines this week highlight more high-tech construction, debates on tariffs, a CEO roundtable, and more!

This week’s first podcast, from The Manufacturing Executive, covers using AI in recruiting for supply chain and manufacturing roles. The second podcast, from Manufacturing Happy Hour, dives into encouraging women in manufacturing. 

Our Social Video and Fun Fact both feature major impacts of the nationwide data center construction boom.

Thanks for joining us!

⚙ Manufacturing Headlines

• PEGATRON Corporation announces first U.S. manufacturing site in Georgetown, Texas [WILCO Texas]

• Houston Leads U.S. Manufacturing Reshoring With Taiwanese Investments Surge [Greater Houston Partnership]

• The new manufacturing facilities powering our US growth [Merck]

• Rising tariffs push furniture brands to boost US manufacturing [Modern Retail]

• Business Roundtable CEOs release roadmap to revitalize American manufacturing [Today’s Medical Developments]

COMMENTARY

♨️ Balancing Bandwidth and Buildout: America’s Next Manufacturing Test

America’s industrial renaissance is gaining momentum—but it’s also entering a new kind of race.

America’s manufacturing resurgence is meeting a new rival: the AI boom. Merck’s $3B Virginia plant expands U.S. biopharma capacity, while Texas Instruments signals slower chip demand. At the same time, AI data centers are soaking up construction labor and power once bound for factories.

The takeaway? Industrial strategy now means balancing bandwidth and buildout—fueling both the digital economy and the machinery that makes it possible.

Upshot: With industrial-construction spending down year-to-date while data-center investment soars, regions are facing tough allocation choices for land and electricity.

FROM THE FEED

📱Inside OpenAI’s Stargate Megafactory

🤨Did You Know?

Data center construction hit a

record $14B

in July 2025, doubling the previous monthly high and pushing year-to-date spending to $26.9 billion.

^{Source: Construct Connect}

🎧 Podcasts Worth A Listen