Roche Announces $50 Billion U.S. Investment to Counter Tariff Risks and Expand Local Production

On April 22, Roche announced that it will invest 50 billion US dollars in the United States over the next five years. These investments will further strengthen Roche's strong influence in the United States.

Currently, Roche has 13 manufacturing sites and 15 R&D bases in the United States, covering pharmaceuticals and diagnostics businesses. These investments are expected to create over 12,000 new jobs, including nearly 6,500 construction positions, as well as 1,000 jobs from the construction and expansion of plants.

Following Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, and Novartis, Roche has become another multinational corporation to significantly expand its investment in the United States.

In this investment, Roche will expand its existing workforce of over 25,000 employees across 24 production sites in eight states in the U.S. The investment will include:

· Expand and upgrade Roche's production and distribution capabilities for its innovative pharmaceuticals and diagnostic product portfolio in Kentucky, Indiana, New Jersey, Oregon, and California.

· Building an advanced gene therapy production facility in Pennsylvania;

· Build a new 900,000-square-foot production center to support Roche's expanding portfolio of next-generation weight-loss drugs (location to be determined);

· Building a new production facility in Indiana for continuous glucose monitoring;

· Building a new R&D center in Massachusetts to conduct cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) research and serve as Roche's new hub for R&D in the cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic fields;

· Large-scale expansion and upgrade of Roche's existing pharmaceuticals and diagnostics R&D centers in Arizona, Indiana, and California.

Roche pointed out that once all the newly added and expanded production capacities are put into use, Roche's exports of pharmaceuticals from the United States will exceed its imports. Currently, its diagnostics division has already achieved a surplus in its exports from the U.S. to other countries.

Roche CEO Thomas Schinecker said in a statement, "The investment announced today underscores our long-term commitment to R&D and manufacturing in the United States. We are proud of our 110-year heritage in the U.S., which has been a key driver of job creation, innovation, and intellectual property for our pharmaceuticals and diagnostics divisions in the country."

Since Trump took office, he has been pressuring pharmaceutical companies to shift drug production to the United States and proposed a 25% tariff on drug imports. Under the heavy pressure of tariffs, many multinational corporations (MNCs) have chosen to make large-scale investments in the U.S. to enhance their production capabilities within the country, optimize supply chain layouts, and reduce potential tariff risks associated with imported products.

On April 10, not long ago, Novartis announced that it would invest $23 billion in building seven new facilities in the United States over the next five years to ensure that all critical drugs provided by Novartis for American patients will be produced in the United States. According to the plan, Novartis will build seven new plants in the United States, three of which will focus on active pharmaceutical ingredients for biologics, finished dosage forms, and assembly and packaging of medical devices; one will focus on chemical active pharmaceutical ingredients, oral solid dosage forms, and packaging; two will be production bases for Radioligand Therapy (RLT); and one will be a biomedical research and innovation center.

Novartis will also expand its existing three plants, respectively located in Indianapolis, Indiana; Millburn, New Jersey; and Carlsbad, California—the three RLT production bases. The related construction and expansion will create nearly 1,000 new jobs for Novartis and lead to an increase of approximately 4,000 employment opportunities in the United States. Including the aforementioned plant expansion plans, over the next five years, the total investment in Novartis' U.S. operations is expected to approach $50 billion.

Through these investments, Novartis will have the production capacity for all its core technology platforms (including small molecules and biologics) in the United States. This new investment will introduce the internal production of Novartis' siRNA technology to the U.S. for the first time, reflecting its commitment to increasing U.S.-based manufacturing in its key therapeutic areas: oncology, immunology, neuroscience, as well as cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic diseases. With the new manufacturing capabilities, Novartis plans to be able to produce 100% of its critical medicines end-to-end within the United States.

In February 2025, Eli Lilly announced an investment of $27 billion to build four new manufacturing plants in the United States. Each of the four plants will focus on different production tasks. Three of the plants will concentrate on producing active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and further strengthening the supply chain, such as the active ingredient tirzepatide used in the weight-loss drug Zepbound and the diabetes treatment Mounjaro, to alleviate shortages in the U.S. supply chain. The fourth plant will focus on the research and production of future injectable therapies, expanding the company’s global manufacturing network.

Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks previously stated at a press conference that this $27 billion plan is more than double the funds Lilly has reserved for domestic production in the U.S. since 2020, with total expenditures exceeding $50 billion. Ricks noted that this is the largest pharmaceutical expansion investment in U.S. history. Lilly anticipates that the new production bases will create over 3,000 high-skilled jobs, including engineers, scientists, operators, and lab technicians. Additionally, the company expects to generate nearly 10,000 construction jobs during the plant development phase.

In March 2025, Johnson & Johnson also announced that it would invest more than $55 billion into its pharmaceutical and medical technology businesses in the United States over the next four years. This includes building three new production facilities and expanding the existing network for drug and medical technology manufacturing. The move aims to address tariff pressures and strengthen the domestic supply chain. Additionally, the $55 billion investment will focus on research and development in areas such as neuroscience, robotic surgery, oncology, immunology, and cardiovascular diseases.

Preliminary statistics show that the four major MNCs will invest over 150 billion US dollars in the United States, mainly involving fields such as pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and supply chain optimization.

Amid risks of complex global geopolitics, unstable supply chains, and frequent changes in tariff policies, the main purpose of MNCs expanding investment in the U.S. is to reduce tariff risks, ensure the production and supply of key products can be carried out domestically in the U.S., decrease reliance on overseas supply chains, enhance the stability and reliability of the supply chain, thereby reducing costs and improving competitiveness.

However, the construction of new facilities takes a long time, requiring 5 years or more from design and planning, civil engineering, equipment installation, FDA inspection, worker training to final production. Trump's term is only four years. It is worth noting that many MNCs have announced investment plans within five years. If subsequent policies change, there may be a lot of variables in MNCs' return on investment and implementation strategies.

This round of pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity flowing back to the U.S. will also have a profound impact on China’s CDMO industry. On one hand, the global supply chain is showing a trend toward regionalization and localization, which undoubtedly means that China’s export-dependent CDMO companies need to reassess and adjust their strategic direction. On the other hand, this highlights the importance of deep market penetration in core markets. As MNC giants heavily invest in popular fields such as weight loss and CGM, competition in these areas will become increasingly fierce. Chinese companies must accelerate innovation and implement differentiated development strategies to stand out in the intense global competition.