Amid all the noise about onshoring, reshoring and bringing manufacturing back to the U.S., are the numbers.

According to Newmark’s report, “Manufacturing Momentum: Five Years In—Progress, Pressures and New Priorities,” manufacturing investment is doing well. The report noted that “the pace of investments peaked in 2022, (and) a reacceleration is underway.” The past year was ranked as the most active for manufacturing investment in three years.

The Newmark analysts indicated that, since 2020, announcements of active major manufacturing investments:

• Totaled 500-plus projects

• Equaled $772 billion in investments

• Pledged 400,000 new jobs

• Generated a minimum of 350 million square feet in new manufacturing inventory

The Industry Mix

Like most commercial real estate areas, industrial manufacturing has different subsectors. Not all subsectors are equal. Nor are their investments.

The report pointed out that investment commitments grew in high-tech/digitalization and biomanufacturing; expansion in the former is driven by robotics and defense growth. On the other hand, manufacturing investment in the automotive sector declined due to “softer consumer demand and fluctuating federal and local legislation and incentives.”

The Regional Story

Though manufacturing investment is picking up, the report acknowledged that the industry faced challenges in 2025 due to trade policy uncertainty. Higher input costs and weaker external demand led to a reduction in employment.

However, “regions with strong manufacturing investment are bucking the trend,” the Newmark analysts wrote. For example, while the U.S. lost 151,000 manufacturing jobs between Q2 2024 and Q2 2025, Texas, which had the most project announcements, added 10,000 jobs at the same time.

Additionally, other areas with at least 10 major manufacturing investments include Phoenix, AZ, Columbus, OH and Indianapolis, IN. “Manufacturing has had an even more visible impact on a much smaller market, like Savannah, GA,” the report said, citing Hyundai’s Metaplant as the main reason.

The Inevitable Snags

While the report was generally positive about manufacturing investments, it also indicated that it is “in a maelstrom moment, being catalyzed and constrained by a cavalcade of forces.” The multiple challenges include:

• Ongoing geological tensions

• Technological advancement in future-shaping industries

• Evolving technology policies

• Power and labor constraints

While tariffs and trade issues put pressure on supply chains, “the U.S. government is making significant moves in this sector,” which have included reducing regulatory barriers to production, striking agreements with mineral-rich allies and allocating $7.5 billion toward critical mineral investments.

The report concluded by calling for liquidity across the entire manufacturing value chain. In citing $50 billion in major manufacturing projects cancelled over the past five years, the report noted that the underlying issue remains financial pressures.

“Financial viability and securing capital are now as critical as other site selection fundamentals, such as power and labor,” the report added.