Johnson & Johnson says it will spend $55 billion in the U.S. over the next four years, including by building three new manufacturing sites and expanding others already in its medicines and medtech network.
The company announced the plan in conjunction with breaking ground on a new 500,000-square-foot biologics plant in Wilson, North Carolina. In October of last year, J&J revealed its plan to spend more than $2 billion to build the facility, which will create more than 500 jobs and will produce treatments for cancer, immunology and neuroscience disorders.
J&J did not say where it will build the three new production facilities, which do not include the Wilson plant.
In addition to the manufacturing initiatives, J&J said that it also will beef up its R&D infrastructure and increase spending on technology advancements to speed the discovery and development of drugs. The $55 billion outlay is a 25% boost on what it spent over the previous four years, J&J added.
The announcement comes four weeks after Eli Lilly revealed a $27 billion investment to build four new manufacturing facilities in the U.S., bringing its total spend in recent years to $50 billion. In a press conference in Washington, D.C. which it called, “Lilly in America,” the company said it would start construction this year on the new plants, dubbed “mega-sites,” by CEO David Ricks.
The spending pledges come as U.S. President Donald Trump threatens to ramp up tariffs on certain foreign imports and pushes American companies to boost domestic investment. Last month, tech giant Apple touted a $500 billion U.S. investment plan over four years.
In November, just days after Trump was elected, AstraZeneca said that it would boost its investment in the U.S. by $2 billion through 2026 to increase its manufacturing and R&D capabilities. AZ said the plan would add more than 1,000 jobs.
During an earnings conference call, the company’s CEO Pascal Soriot called the pledge “a testimony of our confidence in the U.S. economy—of the U.S. marketplace over the next few years.”
