5 Predictions for Factory Expansion in 2026: Where New Plants Will Land and Why
Nearshoring is accelerating faster than most supply chain executives predicted, but the plants being built are smaller, more specialized, and far more automated than the megafactories of 2010. Where the next wave lands depends on power infrastructure and labor costs, not political promises.
The factory expansion boom nobody quite saw coming is now visible on the ground. Not in the headlines. In the construction permits filed in Texas, Alabama, and Mexico. In the job postings for maintenance technicians that specify CNC and PLC experience. In the real estate transactions that show companies buying 300,000 square feet instead of 1.2 million. The calculus has shifted. Factories are smaller, denser with automation, and located with surgical precision around two variables: cheap electricity and the ability to hire people who can actually maintain a production line.
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