Familiar faces return to the winner’s circle after claiming another first-place finish in Site Selection’s annual facilities race. Read Mark Arend’s exclusive conversations with Texas Governor Greg Abbott, former South Dakota Governor (now U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security) Kristi Noem and her successor, South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden.
With nearly 100 more projects than in 2023, Chicagoland reigns supreme among the nation’s largest cities. Greater Austin, Texas, wins the per-capita competition.
Ongoing success at a major industrial park continues to propel the fortunes of Tier 3 champion Bowling Green, Kentucky, which takes the per-capita title as well.
Pharmaceutical and chemical industry investments are among the highlights in Greater St. Louis, which leads all metros along the Mississippi, while Fort Madison, Iowa, tops the per-capita rankings.
Microsoft commits to a pair of data centers near San Antonio. China Aviation Lithium Battery Co. will invest $2.1 billion in its first facility outside China on the coast of Portugal. And China’s Chery will make internal combustion, hybrid and EV models in Malaysia.
Extending licenses for TVA’s nuclear fleet at locations such as Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Alabama is a priority for TVA in order to meet load growth demand.
Photo courtesy of TVA
Reuters’ events division in January convened a webinar entitled “The State of the Energy Transition in 2025” in order to address, among other topics, the pressure that hundreds of billions of dollars in data center investments is placing on the power grid. We asked the power companies themselves about that hot issue in an online-only supplement to Site Selection’s Top Utilities honors in September 2024. They had a lot to say.
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SITE SELECTION RECOMMENDS
The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena (pictured) is tops in ROI over 10 years. Not far behind is for-profit nursing school Unitek College.
Photo by Barbara Ferrara: Getty Images
The Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW) last week released an updated data tool for exploring the return on investment of postsecondary education institutions — 4,600 of them. “Institutions that predominantly offer associate’s degrees or certificates often have a higher ROI after 10 years than institutions that predominantly offer bachelor’s degrees,” the organization stated. However, over 40 years, the value of bachelor’s degrees outpace, in almost all cases, those of institutions that predominantly offer associate’s degrees and certificates.”
Georgetown CEW’s research has featured prominently in past editions of Site Selection’s annual workforce guides, including in 2022 and in this year’s newly published report.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
Photo by Marcie Gonzalez courtesy of the Flower Fields at Carlsbad Ranch
This week the Flower Fields at Carlsbad Ranch in Carlsbad, California, herald the arrival of spring. Fifty-five acres of Giant Tecolote Ranunculus flowers are in bloom for approximately six to eight weeks each year. In a history befitting the change of the seasons, the flowers, originally cultivated in Oceanside beginning in the 1920s, were moved to land in Carlsbad that was previously home to a poinsettia operation.
