NEXTDC plans a billion-dollar digital campus in Melbourne. A chemicals and specialty materials manufacturer expands production capacity in Japan. Foxconn sets sights on a new facility in Houston.
The dozen happiest countries; a data center JV in London; AstraZeneca R&D in Beijing; Hitachi Energy in Finland; Maruti Suzuki in Gujarat, India; Kingspan Group in Ukraine.
There’s a reason that, after electrical power and workforce skills, the supply of ready sites is No. 3 on the list of most important site selection factors
In May, Saudi Arabia’s MBS Global Investments and the Maldives Government announced their intent to create the US$8.8 billion Maldives International Financial Centre (MIFC), “a wholly sustainable, Financial Freezone in Malé, Maldives, designed for and created to attract global financial institutions, fintech pioneers and global digital Nomads.”
Allowing the Maldives to diversify beyond tourism, said the organizations, the center, expected to be complete in 2030, “will attract the future of finance and position Malé as the premier global business and financial hub in the Indian Ocean through an integrated, mixed-use urban district. MIFC will offer no corporate tax, tax-free inheritance, ownership as per the constitution of the Maldives, and privacy. Combined with no residency requirements, it’s set to attract digital nomads, entrepreneurs and wealth creators seeking freedom without borders.”
Expected to be complete by 203, MIFC will encompass 780,000 sq. m (nearly 8.4 million sq. ft.) where more than 6,500 people are projected to reside, in addition to “an expected daily footfall of 35,000.”
NHanced Semiconductors is investing in three facilities in Odon and Bloomington, Indiana.
Rendering courtesy of NHanced
The 2025 SMTA Symposium on Counterfeit Parts & Materials taking place in College Park, Maryland, this week will feature a keynote address by NHanced Semiconductors Vice President Dr. Charles Woychik about “the critical role of advanced packaging technologies needed to build a more resilient and advanced Outsourced Assembly and Test (OSAT) sector in the U.S.” What’s an OSAT? It stands for Outsourced Assembly and Test operations, and NHanced, which operates what it calls “the world’s first pure-play advanced packaging foundry,” is itself an OSAT. This March 2025 explainer from Wevolver describes why such operations — whose value is projected to significantly rise in the coming decade — are so crucial to the semiconductor supply chain.
“Make It In Michigan,” the 2025-2026 economic development guide created by Conway Custom Content for Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), is now live in digital edition flipbook format, complete with live links to all advertisers. Check out our interview with Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer; profiles of robust sectors such as aerospace and defense, semiconductors, and mobility and automotive; insights into why CEOs choose Michigan; conversations with leaders across the MEDC organization; Investment Profiles of Consumers Energy and the unique Kettering University; and more business intelligence about the talent, sites, tools, placemaking and higher education that combine to enhance the state’s business climate.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
This photograph of Flathead Lake in Montana was made this month by Renata Birkenbuel, a 2025 Institute for Citizens & Scholars Higher Education Media Fellow based in Missoula who is working with mentor, 2021 Fellow and fellowship advisory committee member Adam Bruns, editor in chief of Site Selection. Covering 191 square miles and with 160 miles of shoreline, Flathead Lake is the largest natural body of freshwater by surface area in the western U.S. and, says the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, “one of the cleanest lakes in the world.”
Currently at work on a reporting project about Indigenous women in media whose experiences in career & technical education and tribal colleges helped launch their careers, Birkenbuel, a member of the Montana Little Shell Tribe, is a veteran freelance journalist who serves as national education correspondent for ICT News and whose reporting has covered a wide range of subject matter from sports, the arts and health to food, business, and film and book reviews. She also teaches as a college adjunct writing instructor.
