US biomanufacturing investment sees 20% spike since 2024: report

With pledged investment up 20% since 2024, the biomanufacturing boom in the United States is just beginning, according to a new report from commercial real estate firm Newmark. Building on what they call “incredible” momentum over the past couple of years, analysts predict it is just the beginning of a “super-cycle” for the sector.

Biomanufacturing saw the largest increase of the four major manufacturing sectors — including automative/transportation, energy, and high tech — tracked by Newmark.

“Policy shifts, tariff uncertainty and efforts to strengthen the resilience of domestic pharmaceutical supply chains have sparked a wave of U.S. production facility announcements,” the report states. “Combined with 2024’s previous peak, new biomanufacturing facility announcements over the last two years total nearly $50 billion, which is almost 80% more than all capital expenditures announced from 2020 to 2023.”

Regional strongholds, challenges

While every major U.S. region touted at least one significant facility announcement in 2025, the Northeast and South led the country in biomanufacturing investment, according to Newmark. The Northeast secured nearly $12 billion in announcements, beating the South by a modest margin, the report finds.

Although regional hubs such as the Bay Area, Boston, Philadelphia, the Research Triangle in North Carolina, and San Diego each captured at least one new facility announcement in the last year, Liz Berthelette, head of Northeast and national life science research at Newmark, told Pharma Manufacturing “it’s more of a Southeast phenomenon.” 

A November 2025 report from Global Location Strategies ranked North Carolina metro areas among the best for U.S. biomanufacturing, with Raleigh-Cary and Durham-Chapel Hill grabbing the first and third spots, respectively, as the nation’s most competitive markets for the production of therapeutic biologics.

However, North Carolina’s biomanufacturing building boom is also a challenge as companies are competing to secure construction workers — including electricians — in the Tar Heel State, where biotechnology ranks as the fastest growing sector. A Q4 2025 Market Conditions report from DPR Construction also flagged the challenges of labor shortages impacting a myriad of industries, including life sciences.     

When it comes to recruiting the biomanufacturing talent pool, Berthelette said once built these facilities require a “more sophisticated workforce than your general say textile manufacturing facility” with a growing need in the sector for access to skilled labor.

Cytiva’s 2025 Global Biopharma Index found that skill shortages remain a significant challenge. In the biennial survey, 38% of executives reported severe or critical shortages in workers for fast-growing therapeutic areas — including antibody-drug conjugates, cell and gene therapies, and mRNA — with shortfalls in manufacturing staffing (27%).

Nonetheless, driven by Big Pharma, Berthelette contends that the U.S. biomanufacturing investment boom “has got some legs” with growth taking hold — a “green shoot” for the broader life sciences sector which she notes has seen significant headwinds in recent years.  

“As major pharmaceutical companies continue to focus on long-horizon infrastructure plays, biomanufacturing will remain a key growth engine within the ever-evolving U.S. advanced manufacturing landscape,” concludes the Newmark report.

Importance of cold storage  

The report calls out the fact that companies are increasingly expanding their cold storage facilities or depending more on “white-glove” and highly specialized cold chain service providers, as they scale up domestic manufacturing operations — particularly for biologics, cell and gene therapies, and other temperature-sensitive modalities.

“As production volumes grow, users require more refrigerated and freezer storage capacity near their manufacturing lines,” the report states. “Many companies are co-locating these expanded cold storage assets in markets where the life sciences sector is already concentrated, as well as emerging markets reacting to the increase in manufacturing facilities.”