Universe: 107 U.S. metros with qualifying catalyst activity Scoring: Hero x Progress composite (0-10) Tier boundaries: NOW 7.5-10.0 / NEXT 5.5-7.4 / LATER 3.5-5.4 / FUNNEL <3.5
NOW
7.5-10.0 - Deploy capital within 90 days
| Score | Metro | Capital Investor | $$ | Hero Catalyst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.74 | Sherman, TX | Texas Instruments | $30B | Texas Instruments fab $30B (workers arriving now) |
NEXT
5.5-7.4 - Underwrite now, set trigger
| Score | Metro | Capital Investor | $$ | Hero Catalyst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.99 ↓ | Indianapolis | Eli Lilly | $20B+ | Eli Lilly diabetes/obesity mfg $17.5B+ (2,800+ jobs; +$4.5B LEAP add May 2026) |
| 6.46 | Taylor | Samsung Electronics | $17B+ | Samsung $17B semiconductor fab (equipment installation phase, 2nm node) |
| 5.95 | Boise, ID | Micron Technology | $2B+ | Micron Technology existing fab (OPERATIONAL; 5,000+ jobs; expansion cycles) |
| 5.70 | Tulsa, OK | Century Aluminum/EGA | $10B+ | Century Aluminum/EGA $1.1B smelter (announced 2024) |
| 5.64 | West Lafayette, IN | SK hynix | $3.87B | SK hynix HBM packaging $3.87B ($458M CHIPS + $500M loan) (1,000 direct / 7,000 total; under construction) |
| 5.50 | Knoxville, TN | Oak Ridge | $500M+ | Oak Ridge nuclear/advanced manufacturing expansion (ongoing) |
| 5.50 ↑ NEW | Lafayette | DMR Technologies / MMR Group | $356.6M+ | DMR Technologies $1.4M drone manufacturing facility (500+ direct jobs) |
| 5.50 ↑ NEW | Shreveport | SLB | $117M+ | SLB $30M data center equipment expansion (construction Jan 2026) |
LATER
3.5-5.4 - Monitor quarterly - Top 5 only
| Score | Metro | Capital Investor | $$ | Hero Catalyst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.43 | Lehigh Valley | Eli Lilly | umbrella $27B/4-site (per-site not separately disclosed) | Eli Lilly retatrutide / GLP-1 manufacturing — 4th of Lilly's Feb 2025 $27B / 4-site umbrella, LV site named Jan 30, 2026 at joint Shapiro/Lilly event (per-site investment not separately disclosed; ~925K sq ft across 7 buildings on 150 acres at 9802 Main St, Fogelsville; construction underway May 2026) |
| 5.40 | Columbus, OH | Anduril / Honda / Amazon | $25B+ | Intel semiconductor fab $20B (3,000+ direct; under construction) |
| 5.40 | San Antonio, TX | JCB | $4.3B+ (JCB ~$700M + Toyota $531M + Microsoft ~$3.1B aggregated filings) | JCB ~$700M+ South Side factory (1M sq ft, 1,500 jobs phased over 5 yrs) — JCB's largest investment globally; vertical construction underway; hiring begins late 2025 |
| 5.40 | Palm Bay | L3Harris Technologies | $100M | L3Harris $100M satellite integration facility (operational) |
| 5.33 | Kansas City, MO | Panasonic | $7B+ | Panasonic EV battery $4B (4,000 jobs; OPERATIONAL Jul 2025) |
Signals to Watch
↓ Indianapolis (NOW to NEXT) — Score moved from 7.82 to 6.99, but the investment story is stronger, not weaker: Eli Lilly's +$4.5B LEAP announcement raises Lilly's Indy commitment from $13B+ to $17.5B+, and Meta's $10B LEAP data center is under construction. The drop is a stage-classifier artifact — it oscillated all week on whether to read the +$4.5B as new construction, operational-new, or advanced-construction ramp, pushing Progress through a 0.58–0.90 band before settling at 0.76. The honest framing: investability window narrowing as Indianapolis moves from invisibility to high market awareness, with B/B+ inventory near these sites likely already discovered by early movers — not investment weakening. Watch: Lilly Phase 2 hiring announcements and any clarifying disclosure on LEAP project staging that would settle the classifier.
↑ NEW Lafayette, LA (entering NEXT at 5.50) — Three confirmed advanced-manufacturing investments converging on 2026: DMR Technologies drone production (500+ direct jobs, operations end of 2025), MMR Group's $55.2M data-center assembly facility (196 direct jobs at $85K average, ops Q1 2026), and Saronic Technologies' $300M shipyard expansion in adjacent St. Mary Parish (1,500 direct jobs). Defense and data-center tailwind in a market without national attention — workers will arrive before the narrative does. Watch: DMR's operational start at end of 2025 and MMR's Q1 2026 hiring volume — first validation that the cluster is real.
↑ NEW Shreveport, LA (entering NEXT at 5.50) — SLB is doubling its Shreveport footprint with a $30M investment in data-center equipment manufacturing at the former GM assembly plant, adding 600 direct jobs on top of its existing 660-worker base. Construction starts January 2026 with staffing through 2027. Akston's $7M biotech facility is already operational; Radiance Technologies has an $80M microchip facility starting spring 2026 in nearby Ruston. Advanced-manufacturing pivot in a market still recovering from automotive decline — story hasn't been priced. Watch: SLB's January 2026 construction start and the hiring cadence through 2027.
↑ NEW Lehigh Valley, PA (entering LATER at 5.43) — Eli Lilly named the Lehigh Valley as the 4th and final site under its Feb 2025 $27B / 4-site manufacturing umbrella at a joint Shapiro/Lilly event on Jan 30, 2026 — a ~925K sq ft, 7-building greenfield in Fogelsville that will produce retatrutide (Lilly's GLP-1 / triple-agonist), directly parallel to the Boone County tirzepatide build. Per-site investment isn't separately disclosed; PA committed a $100M state incentive package. DiD validation passed parallel-trends cleanly (p=0.973) — quiet market, no pre-announcement run-up. Score lands at the top of LATER but the story reads closer to a NEXT setup once Hero stabilizes — worth tracking explicitly as a borderline. Watch: groundbreaking-completion milestones and the first pharma-cluster hiring in the Allentown/Bethlehem corridor.
Scoring universe: 107 U.S. metros with qualifying catalyst activity as of May 12, 2026 Hero x Progress framework. Not investment advice.