Commercialization Needs Depend on Ohio
Virginia-based advanced air mobility company Electra.aero is heading to Ohio to construct the first manufacturing site for its hybrid-electric EL9 Ultra Short aircraft. The nine-passenger fixed-wing aircraft will move from development to commercial production, filling a demand for point-to-point air mobility, also known as Direct Aviation. After a site selection search encompassing over 140 locations, Electra selected Ohio based on factors such as a strong industry ecosystem, infrastructure readiness, talent and expansion capacity. The $850 million facility will arrive on a 96-acre site at Airpark Ohio, located near the Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport. Construction on the site will begin in 2027. Once operational, the facility will introduce an initial production capacity of 400 aircraft per year, scaling to 800 annually following phase two.
Prysmian’s U.S. expansion better positions the company to serve the growing data center construction market.
Photo courtesy of Prysmian North America
Prysmian Meets Data Center Cable Demand
Energy and digital connections solutions company Prysmian North America announced a massive $1 billion-plus investment into three of its U.S. sites. The majority of the investment is heading into Prysmian’s Claremont Fiber Operations plant in North Carolina, where $1.02 billion will be used to double the size of its fiber optic manufacturing facility. An additional $48 million will go toward scaling optical cable manufacturing production capacity at the Claremont campus, creating a combined 385 new jobs at the site. The company is investing $100 million to double its facility’s footprint in Jackson, Tennessee, increasing production of loose-tube and drop optical fiber cables and creating 100 new jobs. In Lexington, South Carolina, Prysmian is allocating $80 million to expand its FlexRibbon™ fiber optic cable production capacity, creating 130 new jobs in the region.
Apple’s $30 billion agreement with Broadcom comes as part of the company’s greater $600 billion investment in the U.S. by 2030.
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Stacking Chips in Colorado
Semiconductor manufacturing company Broadcom is set to expand its Colorado production presence upon entering a new agreement with Apple for custom silicon components and wireless connectivity technologies. In what will become Apple’s largest American Manufacturing Program investment to date, the company has committed over $30 billion toward Broadcom. The partnership seeks to introduce more than 15 billion chips, creating a domestic end-to-end silicon supply chain. Broadcom plans to invest $1.5 billion to expand and modernize its production facilities located in Fort Collins. Once that project is complete, the company will produce advanced radio frequency components and wireless connectivity technologies.
The same undisclosed semiconductor company led Linde’s joint venture partner Linde LienHwa to invest $800 million to expand ASU capacity in Taiwan.
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Ample Industrial Gas Supply Heads to Arizona
Along-term agreement to supply one of the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturers with a steady stream of ultra-high-purity industrial gases has led Linde to expand in Phoenix, Arizona. The UK-based company announced the $1 billion expansion in July 2026, pledging to construct two new SPECTRA® air separation units (ASUs) at its Phoenix campus. This will bring the site’s ASU count to five, increasing supply of ultra-high-purity nitrogen, oxygen and argon for two incoming semiconductor fabrication facilities from a customer whose name was not disclosed. Linde already supplies gases to the expanding campus of TSMC in the region, which prompted Linde to invest $600 million in an expansion in 2022. “As global demand for advanced semiconductors continues to increase, this investment demonstrates Linde’s ability to deliver the purity, reliability and scale our customers require,” said Linde Gases, U.S. President Armando Botello.
OpenAI plans to make up to $71 million in Codex credits available to Georgia higher education institutions for students to gain hands-on experience with agentic AI, building projects and developing practical skills.
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Building Project Camellia
In southeast Georgia, OpenAI is partnering with leaders in Effingham County on the design and development of a new $20 billion data center campus. Announced in July 2026, the project will land at the Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub and is expected to deliver $80 million in direct community benefits over the life of the project. OpenAI has committed to paying for the entirety of infrastructure costs and power required to serve the site. The facility will also feature a closed-loop water system, which avoids diverting water from the local community. Georgia Power will step in to supply the data center with 3.2 gigawatts of power between 2028 and 2032.
