Pharma giant AbbVie announced a US$1.4 billion investment to build a 185-acre pharmaceutical manufacturing campus in Durham, North Carolina. The investment is part of AbbVie’s greater $100 billion commitment to US R&D and capital investment over the next decade.

The campus will integrate advanced manufacturing technologies, including AI, to support the company’s immunology, neuroscience, and oncology programs.

AbbVie plans to hire 734 permanent workers over the next four years, including scientists, engineers, manufacturers, and technicians. The construction project will provide 2,000 jobs to the local economy with expected completion at the end of 2028.

During the first wave of construction, the team will build volume parenteral (SVP) drug-product manufacturing facilities, laboratories, a warehouse, administrative offices, and employee wellness facilities. When completed, the campus will serve as AbbVie's US center of excellence for SVP manufacturing.

"Our investment in North Carolina represents a significant milestone for AbbVie as our largest capital investment to date and an important expansion of our manufacturing footprint into a new region of the United States," said Robert Michael, chairman and CEO of AbbVie. "By establishing this campus, we are strengthening our ability to support future medical breakthroughs while also creating new jobs and a long-term partnership with Durham and the State of North Carolina."

"We welcome AbbVie's major investment to North Carolina," said Governor Josh Stein in a public release. "When you combine our world-renowned research and innovation with a strong, thriving life sciences hub, North Carolina quickly becomes the premier location for biopharmaceutical companies to do business."

North Carolina continues to enjoy the benefits of recent onshoring trends, thanks in part to the presence of Research Triangle Park, which AbbVie praised for the strength of its local workforce. Novartis announced its own major manufacturing project in Durham last year, while Genentech and FUJIFILM recently brought big investments to nearby Holly Springs.

Over the past year, AbbVie has committed more than $2.2 billion to US manufacturing as part of its overall $100 billion ten-year investment strategy. Among those deals, the company committed $380 million to active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing in Chicago, Illinois.