Site Selection’s analysis of the Top Industries for corporate facility investment in 2014 reveals the Top 10 projects by capital investment in each of the five leading sectors, portrayed in the map above.
The five leading sectors are the same five as last year, and in the same order, led by transportation equipment. Totals for the year were up in all five, except for chemicals/pharmaceuticals. Cumulatively, the number of projects tallied overall in these five leading sectors rose by 22 percent over 2013.
Of course, the projects with the biggest price tags are just the cream off the top. Our proprietary New Plant Database tracks all the private-sector facility investments we can find around the world, based on at least $1 million invested, at least 25,000 new sq. ft. or at least 20 new jobs created. But the big deals are indicative nonetheless:
- Mexico and Asia continue to snare mega-plants from automotive companies intent on a) reaching a growing middle-class consumer base, and b) helping create some of that base with high numbers of well-remunerated jobs.
- You may think the BRIC acronym — Brazil, Russia, India and China — has grown stale from overuse. But major investment in all of those economies continues apace.
- Louisiana’s decades-long leadership in the chemicals sector continues.
Use the patterns you see in this map and in our additional project location analysis throughout this issue to inform your own site decisions in the year ahead.