Pharmaceutical manufacturer AstraZeneca announced it plans to invest $50 billion into bolstering its manufacturing and research capabilities in the United States.

“We’re investing $50 billion in medicines manufacturing and R&D in the US by 2030, including the largest single manufacturing investment we’ve ever made—a new state-of-the-art drug substance manufacturing centre in Virginia,” the company stated.

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The Anglo-Swedish biotech company, which is headquartered in Cambridge, England, said the “cornerstone” of the commitment would be a new multi-billion dollar facility to produce its weight management and metabolic portfolio, including its oral GLP-1 obesity pill.

The facility, planned for the Commonwealth of Virginia, is set to be AstraZeneca’s largest single manufacturing investment in the world and will “leverage AI, automation and data analytics to optimize production,” the company said.

The latest funding will also expand research and development and cell therapy manufacturing in Maryland, Massachusetts, California, Indiana and Texas, and create “tens of thousands of jobs,” AstraZeneca added.

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CEO Pascal Soriot said the commitment underpins the firm’s “belief in America’s innovation in biopharmaceuticals” and would support its ambition to reach $80 billion in annual revenue by 2030, half of which is expected to come from the U.S.

“Another major win for Virginia! @AstraZeneca has chosen the Commonwealth for its largest single manufacturing investment in the world, creating hundreds of high-skilled science and technology jobs and strengthening America’s pharmaceutical supply chain,” Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said.

“Thank you to AstraZeneca for choosing Virginia as the cornerstone for this transformational investment in the United States. This partnership positions the Commonwealth at the cutting edge of pharmaceutical innovation worldwide,” he added.

President Trump said AstraZeneca made the $50 billion investment “because of the election and because of the fact that the tariffs are placed.”

Trump made the announcement while meeting with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

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Reuters noted:

The U.S. accounted for more than 40% of AstraZeneca’s annual revenue in 2024, and the company had been prioritising the market – the world’s largest, worth $635 billion – before Trump’s return to office.

The move to scale up its U.S. footprint is the latest by a drugmaker as Trump threatens to impose import tariffs on the industry and seeks to boost domestic manufacturing. The sector has historically been spared from trade disputes.

Trump has called on pharma companies to make more of the medicines they sell in the U.S. within the country, rather than importing active ingredients or finished medicines. He is also pushing for prices in the U.S. to fall to what other countries pay.

CEO Pascal Soriot announced the plans in Washington, saying he believes that drug prices need to rise elsewhere and “equalize” with other countries effectively contributing more to research and development costs. “The United States cannot build or carry the cost of R&D for the entire world,” he said.

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