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U.S. manufacturers started off 2026 with a bang, announcing a raft of new plant openings and major expansions that spanned aerospace and defense, healthcare manufacturing, critical materials, industrial equipment, consumer appliances, and more. Data center infrastructure took center stage this month, with some key new projects poised to support this burgeoning industry's rapid growth. Spanning mutiple states and representing billions in investment, explore the latest new plants and expansions announced in the U.S. in January.
CesiumAstro announced a $200 million financing package tied to expanding domestic manufacturing capacity, including acquiring a 270,000-square-foot facility in Texas for full-rate manufacturing at scale. The company said the expanded headquarters will consolidate design, manufacturing, assembly, and test into a single U.S.-based production ecosystem.
Shey Sabripour, Founder and CEO of CesiumAstro, said, “This investment marks a defining moment for CesiumAstro and for America’s space and defense industrial base.”
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. opened a 55,000-square-foot hypersonic system manufacturing and payload integration facility in Princess Anne, Maryland, designed to enhance its capacity to support launch operations and hypersonic testing for major defense programs including the Multi-Service Advanced Capability Hypersonics Test Bed (MACH-TB) 2.0 contract and work for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, DARPA, and the Missile Defense Agency. The professionally equipped facility includes advanced manufacturing capabilities, specialized integration areas, and enhanced testing equipment.
Said Dave Carter, President of Kratos Defense & Rocket Support Services Division, “This strategic investment in Princess Anne represents Kratos’ commitment to expanding our nation’s hypersonic testing infrastructure and capabilities.”
Kratos also announced it has expanded its Birmingham, Alabama operations with a 40,000-square-foot facility at the Oxmoor Valley campus. The facility adds office space and electro-mechanical systems integration areas to support production for defense and national security technologies.
Joby Aviation, Inc. signed an agreement to acquire a manufacturing facility spanning more than 700,000 square feet in the Dayton, Ohio area to expand its aircraft production capacity. The facility will support the company’s plans to increase production of its electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft as it scales toward commercial operations. The new Ohio site complements Joby’s existing manufacturing operations and aligns with its strategy to expand U.S. production capacity for advanced air mobility applications.
Employee processing fiber at a Corning optical fiber manufacturing facility.
Corning Incorporated and Meta Platforms, Inc. announced a multiyear agreement valued at up to $6 billion under which Corning will supply Meta with advanced optical fiber, cable, and connectivity solutions to support the rapid buildout of the most advanced data centers in the United States. The agreement is designed to accelerate deployment of Meta’s infrastructure for its apps, technologies, and artificial intelligence systems, and underscores Corning’s role as a critical domestic supplier of data center network hardware.
To support the increased demand from Meta’s data center programs, Corning will expand manufacturing capabilities across its North Carolina operations, including a significant capacity expansion at its optical cable manufacturing facility in Hickory, North Carolina, where Meta will be the anchor customer.
Under the agreement, Corning’s optical fiber and cable products will be deployed across Meta’s U.S. data center campuses, which collectively support tens of thousands of construction and ongoing operations jobs and are integral to Meta’s AI infrastructure strategy.
Generac Holdings Inc. announced the acquisition of a new facility in Sussex, Wisconsin, to expand its manufacturing footprint for commercial and industrial power products, including backup power systems used in data centers and industrial applications. The Sussex facility will supplement Generac’s existing plants in Beaver Dam and Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Said Aaron Jagdfeld, President and Chief Executive Officer, “With global demand for data center capacity projected to more than triple by 2030 (McKinsey), the rapid expansion of data centers is creating unprecedented demand for reliable and scalable power solutions.”
Electric Research and Manufacturing Cooperative, Inc. (ERMCO), a manufacturer of distribution transformers and electrical equipment, announced it will open a new manufacturing facility in Maricopa County, Arizona. The expansion is anticipated to create more than 500 new jobs and strengthen domestic distribution transformer production capacity.
Said Tim Mills, ERMCO President and CEO, “Our goal is simple: power the grid and power progress. This investment ensures ERMCO is ready to meet the challenges of tomorrow.”
BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) confirmed a $110 million investment to expand its manufacturing in Columbus, Nebraska, boosting production capacity for prefillable glass syringes used in biologic and other injectable drug delivery. The expanded capacity will support domestic pharmaceutical supply chains and increased demand for injectable devices.
Said Patrick Jeukenne, Worldwide President of BD Pharmaceutical Systems, “As demand for biologics and GLP-1s accelerates, BD is strengthening its American manufacturing footprint to support U.S.-based drug delivery innovation and supply chain resiliency.”
Century Aluminum Company and Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) entered a joint development agreement to build a new primary aluminum smelter in Inola, Oklahoma, representing the first new U.S. primary smelter since 1980. The smelter is expected to have 750,000 metric tons of annual aluminum production capacity and is projected to create approximately 1,000 permanent jobs and 4,000 construction jobs, significantly expanding domestic primary aluminum output and supply for aerospace, automotive, construction, and defense industries.
Said Jesse Gary, CEO of Century Aluminum, “Our partner EGA brings world-class smelting technology and construction expertise that are fast-tracking our collective efforts to realize President Trump’s vision of rapidly increasing domestic primary aluminum production.”
Atlantic Alumina Company LLC (ATALCO), the only operating alumina refinery in the United States, announced a $450 million strategic partnership with the U.S. government and private investors to expand domestic alumina output and develop the country’s first large-scale primary gallium production circuit at its Gramercy, Louisiana facility. The expansion will increase production of alumina and gallium, key materials for aerospace, defense, semiconductor, and energy technologies. The project is expected to sustain more than 500 jobs and fortify U.S. critical mineral supply chains.
“Aligning this essential public sector support with private sector investment will secure onshore supply of alumina and gallium, which are contested commodity market segments currently dominated by China,” said ATALCO.
BWX Technologies, Inc. announced the opening of its Centrifuge Manufacturing Development Facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee to support domestic nuclear centrifuge manufacturing for national security and energy purposes. The facility forms part of a Department of Energy and NNSA-funded program to establish a domestic supply chain for uranium enrichment equipment and will begin operations in late January 2026.
Said Rex D. Geveden, BWXT President and CEO, “I am so impressed with the speed at which the BWXT team moved, from breaking ground in late June to standing up this facility just seven months later.”
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German industrial manufacturer KettenWulf announced plans to open a new manufacturing operation in Auburn, Alabama featuring production of high-performance engineered conveyor chains, drive chains, and sprockets for industrial applications. The investment expands KettenWulf’s U.S. footprint and capitalizes on Alabama’s skilled manufacturing workforce.
Said Ansgar Wulf, Chief Executive Officer of KettenWulf, Inc., “We are proud to have found our new home in Auburn to serve our customers across the Americas.”
GE Appliances, a Haier company, announced the launch of its first-ever in-house water filter manufacturing operation at Appliance Park in Louisville, Kentucky, marking a major expansion of the company’s domestic manufacturing capabilities. The state-of-the-art operation will produce millions of high-demand refrigerator water filters annually and represents a key component of GE Appliances’ ongoing $3 billion U.S. manufacturing investment over five years aimed at strengthening supply chain resilience and product quality.
Deere & Company (John Deere) announced plans to open two new U.S. facilities as part of its continued investment in domestic manufacturing and supply chain infrastructure.
The first project is a state-of-the-art parts distribution center near Hebron, Indiana, which will improve nationwide distribution capabilities for parts serving agriculture, construction, turf, forestry, mining, and related equipment and is expected to create approximately 150 jobs.
The second project is a new excavator manufacturing factory on the company’s Kernersville, North Carolina campus. The $70 million facility will bring production of future-generation excavators previously built overseas to the United States and is expected to employ more than 150 people.
Together, the two facilities are projected to create around 300 jobs and strengthen Deere’s domestic manufacturing footprint.
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