As pharmaceutical companies continue to prioritize supply chain resilience, regional capacity, and greater control over production, foreign-headquartered contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs) are increasing their investments in the United States, according to an analysis by data and analytics firm GlobalData.

Macroeconomic uncertainty is pushing the industry toward regionalization, providing a tailwind for CMOs that have global manufacturing footprints and can support these customers across geographies, GlobalData contends. At the same time, foreign contract manufacturers are responding to the growing pressure to bring manufacturing back to the U.S.

“The industry is moving away from a traditional, cost-driven global outsourcing model to a more regionalized and integrated approach to manufacturing,” GlobalData said. “Expanding U.S. capacity can help companies manage tariff and geopolitical risks, while closer partnerships can streamline operations and reduce fragmentation across the manufacturing process.”

Geopolitical and trade tensions are driving the regionalization of pharmaceutical manufacturing, which is impacting CMO investment in the U.S. as companies expand capacity and boost global supply chains through an in-region, for-region strategy. The threat of tariffs is pushing the move to regional redundancy and capacity distribution.  

GlobalData noted that recent CMO site upgrades, acquisitions, and new partnerships “signal a shift from cost-driven outsourcing toward integrated, locally anchored models, giving sponsors broader access to end-to-end capabilities while reducing exposure to geopolitical, tariff and technology-transfer risks.”

US capital projects, acquisitions

As evidence of accelerating CMO investment in U.S. manufacturing, the firm pointed to Germany-based Evonik’s planned $100 million modernization of its Indiana drug substance site — including new reactors and other production systems — with the goal of improving equipment reliability, increasing automation, and enhancing operational efficiency.

GlobalData called out Taiwan-headquartered Bora Pharmaceuticals’ $122.5 million acquisition of the GMP manufacturing operations of MacroGenics in Maryland, securing 20,000 liters of single-use bioreactor drug substance capacity. The firm also noted that South Korea’s Samsung Biologics recently completed its $280 million acquisition of a Maryland biologics site from GSK, adding 60,000 liters of drug substance capacity and establishing the company’s first manufacturing presence in the U.S.  

“This does not mean the end of European and Asian manufacturing,” Edita Hamzic, healthcare analyst at GlobalData, said in a statement. “Rather, companies are likely to maintain a more diversified global footprint, building capacity in the U.S. while using established overseas expertise. CMOs that can provide local manufacturing capabilities with end-to-end services may be better positioned to support sponsors as they seek greater supply chain resilience and a more efficient route to market.”

A recent GlobalData analysis found that biopharmaceutical companies are increasingly moving to outsource the manufacturing of new drugs to Europe, while the gap between the use of European and U.S. facilities continues to grow.

“Outsourced dose manufacturing for innovator drugs and biosimilars approved in the U.S. and Europe (the EU and UK) has traditionally oscillated between the two geographies, but there has been a pronounced shift toward European facilities over the last two years,” the firm found.

In 2025, 50% of new drugs had dose manufacturing contracts with European-based facilities — almost doubling their share since 2023 — while that proportion for U.S.-based facilities has remained static at 18% since 2024, according to GlobalData.

Earlier this year, the firm reported that contract manufacturing deals for drugs marketed in the U.S. are shifting to Europe, with biopharma companies increasingly choosing to outsource manufacturing to European facilities, while U.S. contract manufacturing deals for FDA-approved drugs in 2025 experienced their biggest decline in five years.