Happy New Year! We hope your festivities were refreshing because there’s work to be done to build on the momentum of 2022. During this season of resolutions and champagne, we’d like to look back at what made 2022 one of the most significant years for American manufacturing in recent memory. According to the Alliance for American Manufacturing’s Tyler Vazquez the top story was A Factory Resurgence.
“From electric vehicles to batteries to solar panels to semiconductors, corporations big and small invested billions upon billions of dollars this year into planned factories and manufacturing facilities…” And with new facilities come new jobs. An impressive 750,000 new factory jobs were created since January 2021 and over 45,000 jobs are expected with these new ventures in the coming years. These anticipated numbers are bolstered largely by the domestic production of semiconductors with 40 projects already in the works.
The big names looking to build plants in various states are familiar ones: Intel, Micron, and Texas Instruments are just some of the players. All of this is made possible by The CHIPS and Science Act that was passed last year providing $52 billion in direct funding and $170 billion for R&D of these integral computer components. The pay looks good too with Intel anticipating $135,000 as the average yearly salary among its new Ohio facility workers.
Further North in Detroit, automobile manufacturers made significant moves last year to grow the American EV market. With production of the Ford F-150 Lightning underway, consumers now have a fully electric alternative to the most popular American automobile. Beside General Motors also intends to fully transition to EV production, though it’s unclear how long that will take. GM has said it will invest billions to achieve this lofty goal.
But EV’s are only as good as the batteries powering them. Across the country, from Indiana to Kansas and North Carolina to Tennessee, companies such as Stellanis, Samsung, Panasonic, and others plan to heavily invest in better battery technology for electric and hybrid vehicles. Charging stations are also in the sights of the San Francisco-based company TeraWatt, which hopes to expand nationwide.
Speaking of nationwide expansion, it was a whirlwind of a year for U.S. solar but one that will lead to significant development in the coming years. Thanks to the financial flexibility afforded by the Inflation Reduction Act, companies such as First Solar, Enel North America, and Cubic PV are planning to build several facilities. These factories will go a long way toward making America more competitive in the global solar market.
Of course, many of these developments will continue to require substantial federal backing. But the initiative to bring manufacturing back to domestic soil following a global pandemic is a significant step forward. For more details on the successes of 2022, check out the AAM article. Are you ready for the potential growth and employment challenges of 2023? If not, contact us for assistance.