KEY POINTS
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In Phoenix, Arizona, manufacturing construction spending has surged since 2020, driven by semiconductor and technology investments.
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Large-scale investment has generated significant employment, creating demand for residential, commercial, and civil construction.
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Several mixed-use projects are in late-stage preconstruction with the potential to start in 2026.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has broken ground on over three phases worth over $40 billion for its fabrication plant in Phoenix, Arizona. Several other companies have made the Phoenix area home for their multi-billion-dollar manufacturing developments, including Intel and Amkor Technologies.
This influx of large-scale investment generates substantial construction employment during its buildout phases, but its impact extends well beyond initial construction spending. Each facility creates thousands of permanent manufacturing jobs, which in turn drive demand for supporting developments, such as retail, commercial, housing, and healthcare facilities.
For construction firms, the pattern of secondary developments following megaprojects is a trend worth monitoring. As megaprojects increasingly shape the construction landscape, understanding how large-scale investments can create further opportunities can help firms identify emerging opportunities in high-growth markets.
The Manufacturing Explosion
Since 2020, Maricopa County, where Phoenix is located, has seen an explosion in manufacturing construction starts spending. On a 12-month moving average basis, monthly starts have surged from $14.7 million in October 2020 to $2.7 billion in October 2025, according to ConstructConnect Insight Forecast.
Image and Data: ConstructConnect
The unprecedented investment growth in Maricopa County has the potential to create substantial employment, likely resulting in tens of thousands of jobs across the construction and manufacturing sectors.
Labor demand drives the need for housing, shopping, and dining facilities to support the expanding workforce, creating secondary construction opportunities for firms with the ability to capitalize on them.
Downstream Projects
ConstructConnect Project Intelligence (CCPI) is currently tracking a robust pipeline of downstream projects in Maricopa County, scheduled to break ground in 2026, encompassing retail and commercial centers, residential developments, sports arenas, amusement parks, and road infrastructure.
Much of this activity is planned within large mixed-use projects that combine commercial, retail, and residential buildings, including three megaprojects, developments with construction values exceeding $1 billion.
While these projects remain in late-stage preconstruction and have no guarantee of reaching groundbreaking, their combined scale highlights the downstream opportunities from semiconductor investments.
Trends to Watch
For construction professionals, tracking how megaprojects generate further construction is becoming increasingly important. The subsequent investment following manufacturing development has the potential to create opportunities across several different construction categories.
This includes Civil, building roads and utilities, Community, like Sports Arenas and Amusement Parks, and both single and multi-family Residential construction.
These downstream opportunities provide potential opportunities for firms that cannot compete for billion-dollar developments, as supporting projects can emerge later to serve the expanding workforce.
Tracking megaprojects is important not only for the primary opportunities created but also for identifying where secondary demand could emerge across specific construction verticals and geographies.
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