Where the money went, who moved, and why places win.
Welcome to Issue No. 6.
Two years ago, the battery supply chain was the hottest ticket in economic development. We went back to check the receipts on 15 big projects from 2024, and three of them are making anything. Also in this issue: what our 2026 state list shows, a Greensboro airport that built a bridge before it had buyers, and Audi's first U.S. plant at the top of our radar.
RECEIPTS
15 battery projects, three making anything
Our Tracker logged 15 battery supply chain projects of $100 million or more in 2024, worth $14.3 billion and promising more than 11,000 jobs. Two years later, three are producing, and together they account for $350 million, about 2% of the money announced. Five projects worth $4.9 billion are canceled or have left the site they announced.
The good news for taxpayers is that most of these deals paid only on delivery. Where public money went out early, it went into the ground, like Mississippi's $107 million at Byhalia for a plant with no production date.
FROM THE PROJECT TRACKER
What our 2026 state list shows
The Tracker has logged 396 location decisions for 2026 so far, carrying $593.6 billion in announced capital and about 154,000 jobs, already more projects than any full year since 2023. Texas has the most at 38, and Ohio is next at 33, well clear of the rest of the Midwest.
By dollars, two $100 billion bets, SpaceX in Louisiana and TSMC in Arizona, sit on top. Set them aside and Texas has the most capital at $56.9 billion, followed by Georgia and Ohio.
REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK · NORTH CAROLINA
The airport that built the bridge before the buyers came
I spent this week in North Carolina with economic developers, manufacturers and workforce partners, and the stop I keep coming back to is Piedmont Triad International Airport. In 2011, Kevin Baker's team started assembling land and planning a taxiway bridge over I-73 for an aerospace tenant it couldn't name. JetZero is now building an 8-million-square-foot factory there, with $4.7 billion and more than 14,500 jobs planned.
"You've got to be willing to sit on this stuff for a long time," said Baker, the airport's executive director.
ON THE RADAR
Ten projects worth knowing
The biggest of this week's daily briefs:
Audi · About $4B, its first U.S. plant, Middle Georgia Megasite →
Georgia Ports · Permit won for a $2.3B container terminal, Savannah →
Hyundai Transys · Nearly $560M, 320 jobs, West Point, Ga. →
Blue Origin · $554.78M satellite manufacturing campus, Hutto, Texas →
Honeywell Aerospace · $500M, about 600 jobs, Tempe, Ariz. →
Mitsubishi Power · $490M turbine parts plant, Chatham County, Ga. →
Bracco Imaging · $230M contrast media plant, Sanford, N.C. →
Morgan Stanley fund · $172.1M for the 934,523-square-foot Capitol 95, Fredericksburg, Va. →
Niagara Bottling · $141M plant opens, 60 jobs, Elsmere, Ky. →
Lockheed Martin · $67M for hypersonic missile production, Troy, Ala. →
MOVERS, SHAKERS & HOT JOBS
Who moved, and who's hiring
Bill Cork · Leaves the Mississippi Development Authority to lead the Texas Economic Development Council, starting Nov. 1.
Jamie M. Miller · Moves from the Gulf Coast Business Council to Mississippi Power as senior director of economic, workforce and community development.
Awards: IEDC named Asheville-Buncombe's Economic Development Coalition its 2026 Economic Development Organization of the Year in its population class, and added 23 new Certified Economic Developers.
Hot jobs: Six openings, all paying six figures, led by Anthropic's data center community engagement managers at up to $295,000.
THE 30-SECOND VERSION
Three of 15 big 2024 battery projects are producing · Texas and Ohio have the most 2026 projects in our Tracker · Greensboro's airport built ahead and landed JetZero · Audi's first U.S. plant leads our radar · Bill Cork takes over the TEDC
That's the whole issue. You're caught up.
COMING NEXT
Sector Intelligence: how a rural Virginia college built a pipeline of 753 line workers. Behind the Deal: why Coca-Cola UNITED paid extra to stay in Birmingham.
One last thing
Projects we missed, moves you're too modest to announce and anything we got wrong all go to [email protected].
Andy Greiner
Location Decision