Governor, IEDC announce record-setting $20.7B first quarter in commitments

The state’s economic development agency announced Thursday that it has secured more than $20 billion in committed capital investment during the first quarter of 2024, the best quarter on record in the category.

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. said 45 companies committed to spend a total of $20.68 billion on their projects in the state in the coming years, a figure that clocks in at nearly three-quarters of the entire capital investment commitments of 2023, when the state brought in a record $28.7 billion.

The previous record for commitments in a single quarter was in the fourth quarter of 2023, with $15.6 billion in commitments.

The figure was shared by Gov. Eric Holcomb, Secretary of Commerce David Rosenberg and IEDC Chief Strategy Officer Ann Lathrop during an agency board meeting held in Odon.

The IEDC typically reports its quarterly numbers on its website and during public quarterly meetings, but it sent out a press release this time because of the record.

“We are sending a celebratory press release this quarter because it was such a monumental and historic quarter,” said Erin Sweitzer, deputy chief of staff with the IEDC, in an email to IBJ.

The IEDC said the first-quarter financial commitments, which came from companies planning to locate or expand in Indiana, ranged from $81,000 to $11 billion apiece.

The agency said it offered $193 million in traditional performance-based incentives for first quarter projects. Those incentives are only paid when companies meet their job-creation and investment commitments.

“This is just proof that under the governor’s leadership, the state strategy of going to get the economy we want in the industries of the future is absolutely working, and we still have historic momentum at our backs,” said Rosenberg. “I think what’s even more exciting is that Indiana is truly a global destination. We don’t have to throw money at companies to come here. Sometimes companies come here without even having the highest incentive offer.”

While most of those companies have yet to announce their plans publicly—most of the deals are still pending approval by the IEDC board—it’s expected that those projects will be disclosed in the coming weeks and months. Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, announced earlier this year that it plans to build an $800 million data center in Jeffersonville, although that figure is not among the investments included in the commitment.

Five companies that are among the commitments have already made their investments in the state public: Bintelli LLC ($4 million investment), GHK Truss LLC ($1 million), Membershine LLC ($500,000), Pneuma Media LLC (not disclosed) and Simtra BioPharma Solutions ($250 million).

The investments are expected to create 5,158 new jobs for projects in 25 counties, with an average wage of $33.79 per hour, according to the IEDC. The wage figure—which equates to about $70,000 annually—is more than 20% higher than the state’s average and is on par with the 2023 national average wage of $70,343.

The investment figures from the IEDC come on the heels of a record-breaking few years for the agency. The IEDC has secured $71.57 billion in new committed capital investment since the beginning of 2022, including the first quarter of this year.

It has seen numerous mega-deals—projects exceeding $1 billion—come to fruition, with Entek in Terre Haute ($1.5 billion), General Motors and Samsung SDI ($3 billion) in New Carlisle, Eli Lilly and Co. ($3.7 billion) in Lebanon and a pair of projects in Kokomo from StarPlus Energy totaling more than $6 billion. Those investments stemmed from a marked shift in strategy and incentives that came about after Indiana lost out on a $20 billion project from Intel to Ohio in 2021.

On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that South Korean semiconductor chip manufacturer SK Hynix will soon announce a $4 billion project in West Lafayette. IBJ has not independently confirmed the plans and the IEDC has declined comment.

Holcomb said a large portion of the investment commitments are from foreign countries, just as they’ve been in years past. In 2023, more than 70% of the total investment came from outside the United States. Holcomb and economic development officials traveled to Kenya, Portugal, France and Japan in 2023 and Canada earlier this year in a bid to entice more investment to the state.

Information on the amount of foreign direct investment during the first quarter was not immediately available.

“We don’t go places to sightsee, we go to strengthen our relationships or make new ones with a strategic and tactical purpose supporting those missions,” Holcomb told IBJ. “So, yes, good things have come from our time commitments abroad.”