This year’s SelectUSA Investment Summit, the US’s most important annual event for attracting foreign investment, coincides with the 250th anniversary of the US. Last year, the Investment Summit attracted more than 5,500 participants, and with a line-up ranging from global start-ups to governors and CEOs, this year’s event is spotlighting innovation, manufacturing and the industry trends reshaping the economy.
These themes will be brought into focus during plenary sessions such as ‘Made in America 2.0: The Manufacturing Renaissance’, where business leaders will discuss changes in US production chains and industrial competitiveness during President Donald Trump’s second term. Speakers featured on the panel include Hanwha Defense USA president and CEO Michael Coulter; TSMC senior vice-president and deputy co-chief operating officer and chief information security officer Cliff Hou; and Lonza CEO Wolfgang Wienand, whose companies all have major manufacturing projects in the US.
A manufacturing revival has been a core theme of the current administration’s policies and narrative, as it has sought to encourage localisation by raising trade barriers. Before the expansion of US tariff probes, the previous administration passed the CHIPS Act in 2022, the country’s first deployment of major industrial strategy in more than 50 years. During last year’s Investment Summit, leaders from the semiconductor industry repeatedly pointed to the policy as a defining factor in their decision to invest in the US.
Foreign companies will be on the lookout for other local programmes that best match their respective industries and needs. During one session, local leaders will provide an overview of the US Economic Development Administration’s Tech Hubs programme, which looks to expand critical tech clusters beyond major cities with the help of international partnerships.
Another session, ‘Grants & Incentives: US, Federal, State, and Local Opportunities for Consideration’, will also provide an overview of the eligibility requirements and applications processes companies must go through to tap into these benefits.
Strategic sectors have become central to driving FDI flows in the past few years, as governments prioritise industries essential to long-term national security. At a panel titled, ‘Innovation at 250: Governors Building the Next Era of American Leadership,’ bipartisan governors will discuss investments in some of these sectors, including in advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, critical minerals, AI and quantum computing, as well as the role that investing in innovation can have in maintaining US competitiveness.
Governors in attendance include Maryland’s Wes Moore; North Carolina’s Josh Stein; Oklahoma’s Kevin Stitt; Puerto Rico’s Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon; Utah’s Spencer Cox; Guam’s Lou Leon Guerrero; Mississippi’s Tate Reeves; Nebraska’s Jim Pillen; Delaware’s Matt Meyer; and Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser.
The Investment Summit will also spotlight start-ups in strategic sectors. The SelectUSA Tech programme gathers international start-ups developing “innovative technology products/services” that are planning to expand into the US within the next two to three years. Various pitching sessions will take place, with industry-specific ones for defence, energy, health, ICT/software and an open category. Towards the end of the event, winners from these individual sessions will compete at the World Finals Pitching Session.
The event will take place on 3–6 May at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Centre in Maryland.
