Construction Spending On U.S. Manufacturing Plants Soars, to De-Globalize Supply Chains?

July 04, 2023

by Wolf Richter Wolf Street

The driver: computer, electronic, and electrical manufacturing.

The amount spent on building manufacturing plants in May in the US jumped by 73% from a year ago, and by 147% from May 2021, to $15.7 billion, according to Census Bureau data today. This by far outpaces the increase in construction costs (more on that in a moment).

Over the six years between 2015 and 2020, construction spending on factories has stagnated roughly between $6 billion and $7 billion a month. But in the spring of 2021, spending began to rise, and then surge amid the global supply chain chaos raging at the time. The driver behind the surge of construction spending now is computer, electronic, and electrical manufacturing.