Key Highlights :
Gilead broke ground on a new 180,000 sq ft technical development and manufacturing building in Foster City.
With a $32 billion U.S. investment strategy, the development will create more than 3,000 new jobs and $43 billion of economic activity through 2030.
Key Background :
US biopharmaceutical giant Gilead Sciences initiated one of the biggest infrastructure revamps in its history with the construction of its Pharmaceutical Development and Manufacturing Technical Development Center (NTDC) on its campus in Foster City, California. The five-story, 180,000-square-foot center will be a state-of-the-art facility where technology, innovation, and scientific know-how come together to drive the company’s pipeline of drugs.
NTDC is in line overall with one of the pillars of Gilead’s $32 billion U.S. investment strategy announced this year. The strategic plan goes through 2030 and consists of three flagship programs: the NTDC, a science campus to facilitate early-stage scientific innovation, and an independent biologics manufacturing center to expand large-scale capacity. Altogether, they constitute an integrated approach for expanding on the company’s U.S. presence.
Apart from the geographical scope, the NTDC is also being placed by Gilead in a digitally empowered center that has AI-capable systems, autonomous robots, and digital monitoring systems in real time. Its adaptive pilot laboratories will be conducive to quicker technology transfer and innovative biologics development to keep the company competitive in an increasingly global market for innovative therapeutics.
Economically, Gilead puts its $32 billion investment proposal at creating more than 3,000 direct and indirect employment and close to $43 billion of economic value by the end of the decade. Earlier stages of the program were estimated to create a minimum of 800 direct employment and more than 2,200 indirect employment until 2028, showing the scale of the jobs and economic activity under the plan.
Chief Executive Officer Daniel O’Day restated the NTDC is “a cornerstone of Gilead’s vision for delivering next-generation therapies,” reflecting the company’s commitment to scientific research and offshoring avoidance of domestic manufacturing. The investment also reflects Gilead’s strategic focus in alignment with U.S. government policy aimed at prioritizing base manufacturing reshoring and lower foreign dependence on supply chains.
The firm’s investment comes in the wake of similar moves by its competitors in the guise of Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and Bristol Myers Squibb. The other companies also include domestically located factories as they relocate following changing trade forces as well as policy incentives. To this effect, Gilead’s expansion in Foster City not only contributes to its internal manufacturing capacity but also demonstrates the large biopharmaceutical industry’s realignment towards domestic innovation and leadership in manufacturing.
