One glance at the Conway Projects Database shows this progress. From Microsoft’s $3.3 AI data center development in Mount Pleasant to Eli Lilly’s $3.5 billion expansion of its pharmaceutical manufacturing campus in Kenosha County, Wisconsin is experiencing a technology and manufacturing boom.
It’s been 20 years since Area Development first handed out its inaugural Shovel Awards. In those two decades, we’ve seen seismic shifts in where and how America grows. From the rise of the electric vehicle industry to the return of semiconductor manufacturing on U.S. soil, the momentum has never let up. If anything, the pace has only quickened. And through it all, the states that earn Shovel Awards have led the charge, securing investments, creating jobs, and laying the groundwork for sustainable, long-term economic success.
Franklin, WI, June 13, 2025 – Governor Tony Evers, together with Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) and company officials, today announced that Yaskawa America Inc. will invest $180 million and create more than 700 new high-paying jobs in Wisconsin.
Yaskawa America, a manufacturer of AC inverter drives and motion control and robotics automation systems, plans to spend $180 million to build out a new headquarters campus in Franklin.
Norwalk, Connecticut-based Terex Corp., a global industrial equipment manufacturer, will expand its operations in Pewaukee and eventually create more than 100 new jobs there.
Wisconsin has emerged as a hot spot for hyper-scale data centers, and the state’s top economic development official predicts more such projects.
Modine, a Racine-based company focused on thermal management technologies for the commercial, industrial and vehicular markets, is leasing a 153,000-square-foot facility at 3303 West Oakwood Road, according to a Jan. 22 news release from the City of Franklin.
On an investment spree with billions of dollars worth of projects ongoing globally, Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Company chose Kenosha County for its latest — and one of its largest — investments.
The pharmaceutical giant announced Thursday that it was planning a $3 billion expansion in Pleasant Prairie at a site formerly home to Nexus Pharmaceuticals. The company expects to create 750 new jobs there as part of the expansion. Approximately 100 employees already work at the roughly 100,000-square-foot facility at 10300 128th Ave. in the Prairie Highlands Corporate Park.
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INDIANAPOLIS, Dec. 5, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) today announced a $3 billion expansion of the Kenosha County, Wisconsin, manufacturing facility that the company acquired earlier this year.
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So much more than just a day trip from Chicago, Milwaukee has many (if not all) of the same qualities that make other cities on this list buzz—and then some.