GE Vernova to invest $600 million in US manufacturing over next two years
GE Vernova unveiled an ambitious plan on Wednesday to invest nearly $600 million in US manufacturing over the next two years, to be spread across a dozen plants, mostly in East Coast states.
The moves, the Cambridge-based energy company said, would create about 1,500 new manufacturing and engineering jobs, in addition to the roughly 18,000 US people the company employed at the end of 2024. The announcement is part of a broader plan to spend $9 billion on capital projects and research and development through 2028 that GE Vernova executives shared with analysts in December. The investments are aimed at increasing GE Vernova’s capacity to serve the gas, nuclear, grid, and on-shore wind markets. Half of the two-year commitment — around $300 million — is slated to support its gas power business.
The company, among other things, is looking to ride the wave of demand for artificial intelligence, by selling equipment that can accommodate a sharp increase in electricity use expected from a proliferation of AI data centers.
This latest plan represents a significant increase in manufacturing investments, though it’s tough to compare to previous years because GE Vernova spun off from GE Aerospace last April, becoming an independent company. The company estimates it made $167 million in US manufacturing investments last year, helping to create about 1,100 jobs.
Although GE Vernova is based in Massachusetts, only one facility in New England will benefit from this latest round of investments: The company’s spending $22 million on upgrades at its gas power plant in Bangor, Maine, creating 50 new jobs there. The facility that will see the most job growth from these investments is GE Vernova’s gas power plant in Greenville, N.C., where around 650 jobs will be created.
Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto.