When JCB’s vice president of commercial operations rules out California for a new plant, he points to speed and business climate. The broader story is a supply-chain and workforce shift: industrial investment and population growth are clustering in Republican-
Ken Bianco doesn’t need long to answer the question. In California, he says—where most of his customers are—building a new factory is out of the picture.
“Absolutely not,” says JCB’s vice president of commercial operations, slicing the air with his hand as if swatting away a bothersome fly. “California has become too slow. Everything takes too long there—it’s simply not business-friendly.”
Bianco is standing in the lobby of construction and industrial equipment manufacturer JCB. To his left sits a model of the world’s fastest diesel engine. and to his right a backhoe loader painted with a flame motif. JCB, founded in Britain in 1945, planned its first US plant in 2001—and from the start, it was headed south.
When the company looked for a location, Bianco remembers Georgia’s pitch: “Georgia welcomed us with incredible incentives.” Today, JCB’s North American headquarters is in the state, with 500,000 square feet of production space. A second large plant is under construction in Texas.
The pull of the Republican-governed South is not a slogan. The data points in the same direction.
In 2025, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Utah, and Texas ranked among the country’s leaders in both economic and population growth. While US GDP rose by 2.1% last year. Florida and South Carolina recorded gains of just over 3%. the highest rate of any state. according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Utah came in just below that, and Texas also grew above the national average.
That momentum matters because it changes where companies plan growth. Manufacturing firms, in particular, are increasingly drawn to states where Republicans hold power. A report by CBRE. one of the nation’s largest real estate brokerage firms. found that 725 companies relocated their headquarters between 2018 and 2025—leaving high-tax states like California or New York for Republican states like Florida or Texas.
Economic engines don’t stop running in places like California or New York. Their output is still large, driven above all by the tech boom. But the stronger push right now is elsewhere—and the population figures make the movement feel physical.
New York’s headcount is stagnating. California has been losing residents for several years. and the list of big-name companies stepping away from the “Golden State” keeps growing. South Carolina, by contrast, is currently the nation’s fastest-growing state in percentage terms. Texas. according to the US Census Bureau. is gaining the most residents in absolute numbers: nearly 7 million people have moved there in the past 15 years. Utah is buoyed by a young, growing population, while Florida leads the field in immigration from abroad.
Taken together, these shifts are turning into a new industrial map—one that executives like Bianco recognize before the ink is dry on any permit.
The story comes to life in companies that are already scaling. JCB’s largest US plant sits just outside Savannah. Bianco recalls what it used to be: “Twenty-five years ago. this was just an acre.” Today. the factory alone turns out more than 20 excavators a day. and soon that number is expected to rise to 30. with order books full. The plant employs 560 workers in production and around 200 in administration.
JCB’s rise also ties into America’s military build-up under Donald Trump. In its commercials, JCB presents itself as a problem-solver that makes heavy equipment for construction sites. But the company has moved further into a booming military business that people here refer to euphemistically as “defense.”.
At the plant visit, security is strict. Press officers monitor every step visitors take and repeatedly urge them not to take photos, with the highest level of security applying in the military area.
Georgia’s advantage is close to home. In terms of the US Army, the state is home to the country’s largest infantry presence, meaning armed forces—an important client—are effectively on the doorstep.
For years, Republican-governed states have shared a political identity that’s been “red” for decades. In Texas and Florida, some politicians position themselves—proudly—as the opposite of “blue” coastal metropolises. Talk of “blue state bullshit” that they want to keep at arm’s length is commonplace. Since Donald Trump returned to the White House, the culture war has only intensified.
But when executives talk about location decisions, the reasons tend to be far more practical.
Governors and local politicians promise to keep taxes low, limit rules imposed on business, and fast-track infrastructure projects. In practice, that means fewer requirements, quicker permits, and more projects. Big-name developers who may wait years for a building permit in California or the Northeast can find municipalities here that actively court investors.
The relocation trend is visible in high-profile examples. Billionaire investor Kenneth Griffin said he would rather invest in Miami than in New York after being spooked by New York’s mayor Zohran Mamdani’s tax plans. Engineers from Tesla or Oracle have left overheated Silicon Valley for Austin. drawn by a mix of tech jobs. leafy suburbs. and low income taxes. Retirees have also fueled migration: a fast-growing cohort has been selling homes in the Midwest to enjoy Florida sun.
The industrial shift is still the engine story. The South is seeing construction at speed—new suburban developments rising around cities like Houston, Miami, and Atlanta. On the outskirts of hubs such as Savannah or Laredo. Texas—the largest freight gateway on the Mexican border—cranes are erecting new logistics centers almost weekly.
Another trend has become hugely capital-intensive: the boom in data centers. With space at traditional locations such as the Bay Area or greater Seattle exhausted and expensive. investors are moving toward places where land and energy are cheap and politics are on their side. Alongside Democratic-run Virginia, that means rural regions in states like Texas and Georgia.
A key reason is power. With power supplies tight, some operators are building their own gas plants right next to the data centers. Projects like these are approved far more quickly in Texas than in California.
There’s also a dimension companies increasingly lean on, but don’t often talk about publicly: risk management.
On the West Coast, train robberies on containers have reached shocking levels. At the peak, around 90 containers a day were being looted in the Los Angeles area alone.
“Companies from South Korea, China, or Japan now prefer to send their containers to the Port of Savannah rather than Los Angeles,” says Arthur Hutton, who oversees operations at a recently opened logistics center near the Savannah docks.
As Hutton walks through the halls, a major shipment has just arrived: pianos from Japanese manufacturer Yamaha and paper rolls from China.
US Department of Transportation evaluations show California has lost market share to Atlantic ports—even though the route from Asia is longer and therefore more expensive.
One other reason for the shift—again, not always said out loud—is how unionized the workforce is. In the Southern states, workers are less often unionized.
At the logistics center dominated by Amazon in Savannah, Hutton says none of the staff is part of any union.
Still, the picture isn’t one of a single winning sector or a single kind of company. California remains the largest economic output state, thanks to Silicon Valley and Hollywood. And alongside Austin in Texas, other states are chasing tech supremacy. One is Utah.
Utah has been governed by Republicans continuously since 1985. The region around Salt Lake City has developed in recent years into a tech hub often referred to as the “Silicon Slopes.” Software firms. start-ups. and service providers leaving the pricey West Coast find here a blend of good pay. relatively modest living costs. and spectacular scenery.
South Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia stand for the industrial South. They’ve attracted major automotive plants and suppliers in recent years—from Europe, Asia, and other parts of the US. Ports such as Savannah and Charleston matter here too. alongside weaker union power than in coastal metropolises—a strong argument in location decisions of German carmakers like Mercedes and BMW.
Those German corporations face their own pressures back home. While German firms are making headlines for job cuts and the car industry is in crisis. the US is still seen as a growth market. Mercedes is investing $7 billion in the American market this year alone, and BMW is putting in at least $1.7 billion.
For JCB in Georgia, the story is also about momentum already built. The factory that used to be “just an acre” now produces more than 20 excavators a day, with plans to reach 30 as order books stay full.
The American South’s industrial boom isn’t just pulling factories. It’s pulling people, capital, and supply chains—threading them through Republican-governed states where investment decisions can move faster than on the coasts.
JCB Savannah Georgia Texas industrial investment data centers logistics CBRE Bureau of Economic Analysis US Census Bureau unionization ports of Savannah California relocation Mercedes investment BMW investment Elon Musk SpaceX Tesla Austin