Micron will invest $10 billion at its Boise campus in what it calls the country’s first dedicated memory research hub. London-based money transfer firm Aspora will serve the Indian diaspora from a new EU base in Vilnius. Following a multibillion-dollar investment in North Carolina, Genentech commits to a $750 million fill-finish plant in Hillsboro, Oregon.
“Canada has what the world wants,” said Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney earlier this year. What do companies want in Canada and where do they want it? Learn which provinces top the Canadian Competitiveness Rankings and which economic development organizations represent the nation’s 20 highest-performing metro areas and municipalities in Canada’s Best Locations.
Each year, Site Selection recognizes the Top Utilities in economic development based on corporate end-user project activity in their territories, measured by cumulative and per-capita corporate end-user capital investment in facilities and project-affiliated job creation data. Here we present the Class of 2026.
This expanded web edition featuring responses from utilities across the country shows how their economic development and operations teams are balancing growth and supply when meeting large-load power needs.
Photo of Welland Canal courtesy of St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation
As tension builds between the U.S. government and Canadian government, it’s worth a look back to last fall when Site Selection Editor in Chief Adam Bruns, in “Critical Gateway,” checked in with leaders at The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation on the Canadian side and leaders at the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (part of the U.S. Department of Transportation) about the spirit of collaboration and mutual prosperity along the St. Lawrence Seaway.
With a healthy mix of nuclear power, natural gas and renewable resources, Mississippi has positioned itself to be an energy leader in America for decades to come.
Jackson, Michigan, is home to the headquarters of CMS Energy and Consumers Energy at One Energy Plaza (pictured).
Photo courtesy of Consumers Energy
How is a given metro region in your company’s location portfolio performing in comparison to others across various types of commercial real estate? The Atlanta Fed has the tool to find out. Updated quarterly, the Commercial Real Estate Market Index (CREMI) tracks general commercial real estate conditions in about 390 U.S. cities and their adjacent communities across office, hospitality, multifamily, industrial and other categories.
A glance over the weekend showed the strongest markets in industrial performance led by Jackson, Michigan (home to utility Consumers Energy’s HQ, pictured above); Jonesboro, Arkansas; and Columbus, Ohio. In the office category, Wausau, Wisconsin, is at the top, followed by Bangor, Maine, and Daphne-Fairhope, Alabama.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
A Joby production prototype electric air taxi flew in front of Mount Fuji in Shizuoka, Japan, during the first test flights in partnership with Toyota in fall 2024.
2024 photo courtesy of Joby Aviation
After working together for nearly a decade, Joby Aviation, Inc. and Toyota Motor Corporation in June announced the initial phase of their strategic manufacturing alliance by establishing a joint venture based in Joby’s home state of California. Joby was founded in Santa Cruz. “The strategic alliance will initially focus on establishing the groundwork for commercial production, and advancing manufacturing excellence, with particular emphasis on further improving productivity, quality and cost,” a release from the companies stated. “Going forward, it will also support the expansion of Joby’s production capacity to support aircraft certification and meet anticipated growth in demand for its electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.”
“Since our founding, we’ve been guided by the philosophy of providing mobility for all,” said Toyota Motor Corporation Chairman Akio Toyoda. “Over time, we’ve continued to expand what mobility can mean. We see air mobility as a natural extension of that philosophy ― from the ground into the sky ― and as a way to bring new value to people’s lives and to society.”
Among other activities, Joby in early August signed a lease for an air mobility hub at Alliance Air Trade Center in Haslet, Texas, part of Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport at Hillwood’s 27,000-acre AllianceTexas development. And Joby and industrial AI and infrastructure company Atoms announced a strategic partnership to acquire and develop vertiport sites in the United States. “The companies will initially focus on Florida, New York and Texas,” the companies stated, “the markets where Joby is preparing to launch early operations under the White House-backed eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP), as well as California.” And in July, Joby and Virgin Atlantic signed an agreement at the Farnborough International Airshow that will see air taxi service launched at Virgin Atlantic hubs located at London Heathrow and Manchester Airport before extending service to other airports across the UK.
