REGIONAL RESEARCH EXPERTISE DRAWS NEW INVESTMENT
Radiance Technologies has confirmed a $370.7 million secure microchip packaging facility will enter construction next year in Louisiana’s Lincoln Parish. The Alabama-based defense contractor’s expansion in the state aims to strengthen national security and boost innovation. To be located in the city of Ruston, the 40,000-sq.-ft. facility will house design and fabrication operations for microchips, while also housing R&D activity. Access to researchers at Louisiana Tech was a major investment pull, as the company has served as an anchor tenant of the university’s Enterprise Campus research park. “Manufacturing secure microchips in Ruston expands this region’s broad commitment to supporting national security and the Department of Defense,” said Louisiana Tech President Jim Henderson. “This facility is the manifestation of Louisiana Tech’s longstanding reputation as an innovator in cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing and microelectronics. Our faculty will continue to play a significant role in Radiance’s research and development, our students will benefit from more experiential learning opportunities and our graduates will provide the highly skilled workforce.” Radiance anticipates creating 150 direct jobs at the new production facility.
THE UK DINES WITH MARKS & SPENCER
England-based multinational retailer Marks & Spencer has announced the company’s largest investment into its food supply chain. Last week, M&S revealed the equivalent of over $413 million will go into the construction of a National Distribution Center (NDC) in Northamptonshire. The planned 1.3 million-sq.-ft. facility, locating at the Daventry International Freight Terminal, will allow the company to double the size of its food business, which produces various meat products, fruits, vegetables, frozen meals, ready-to-cook meals and more. “We’re transforming M&S into a destination for the weekly shop and modernizing our supply chain is central to that ambition,” said M&S Food Managing Director Alex Freudmann. “This investment will boost capacity for future growth, lower our cost to serve over the long-term, and improve product availability – ensuring customers find the right products in the right place at the right time.” This move falls in line with earlier announcements of twelve new food stores at the company’s former Homebase store sites throughout the United Kingdom, in addition to a planned 390,000-sq.-ft. distribution center in Bristol. Once complete, the NDC will create 1,000 direct jobs.
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A NEW FRONTIER
A massive $25 billion data center investment is heading two hours west of Fort Worth, Texas, to Shackelford County. Vantage Data Centers is the developer behind the initiative, planning to introduce a 1.4-gigawatt data center campus on its 1,200-acre site. Nicknamed “Frontier,” the campus expects to open the first of 10 data center facilities, spanning a total of 3.7 million sq. ft., by mid-2026. “Texas has become a critical and strategic market for AI providers. In particular, the launch of our Frontier campus with 1.4GW of GPU compute capacity marks a watershed moment for Vantage as we deliver on our promise to meet the unprecedented requirements of our customers,” said Vantage Data Centers North America President Dana Adams. Each data center will run on a closed-loop chiller system which will save billions of gallons of water each year. Throughout construction and once operations begin the investment will create over 5,000 jobs in the region, the company says.
Reports compiled and written by Alexis Elmore
