By MICHELLE CHAPMAN, Associated Press Business Writer
Johnson & Johnson says it will invest more than $55 billion within the United States over the next four years, including four new manufacturing plants.
A number of companies have highlighted investments in the U.S. in recent months, a focus of the Trump istration. J&J rival Eli Lilly and Co. announced in late February that it planned to build four new factories in the U.S. Both Lilly and J&J cited tax cut legislation ed in 2017 as factors in their U.S. investments.
Johnson & Johnson said Friday that it is a 25% increase in investment compared with the prior four years and estimates the U.S. economic impact will be more than $100 billion a year.
“Our increased U.S. investment begins with the ground-breaking of a high-tech facility in North Carolina that will not only add U.S.-based jobs but manufacture cutting edge medicines to treat patients in America and around the world,” Chairman and CEO Joaquin Duato said in a statement.
The North Carolina plant is in Wilson, just east of Raleigh. The locations of the other three facilities were not disclosed.
Aside from building four new plants, Johnson & Johnson said that it will expand several existing sites. The company is also planning to make investments in research and development infrastructure and technology.
Johnson & Johnson’s efforts are among several companies pledging to enhance their manufacturing in the U.S. Earlier this month chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. said that it plans to invest $100 billion in the U.S., on top of $65 billion in investments the company had previously announced.
In February Apple announced that it plans to invest more than $500 billion in the U.S. over the next four years, including plans to hire 20,000 people and build a new server factory in Texas.
Apple outlined several concrete moves in its announcement, the most significant of which is the construction of a new factory in Houston — slated to open in 2026 — that will produce servers to power Apple Intelligence, its suite of AI features.
AP Health Writer Tom Murphy contributed to this report.
