Posted on
For decades, manufacturing production has been moving from the United States to lower-cost countries in Asia and elsewhere. This offshoring has transformed the global economy, for both good and bad. However, investment in U.S.-based manufacturing has recently increased dramatically. Manufacturing capital spending has risen from approximately $82 million per month in 2021 to roughly $224 million per month in 2025. Are we seeing the beginning of a “reshoring” revolution, where manufacturing is moving back to the U.S.?
Yes, and no.
U.S. reshoring is indeed reshaping manufacturing and construction, driven largely by the supply chain vulnerabilities exposed during the COVID pandemic and government incentives (and disincentives) such as the CHIPS and Science Act and the uncertainty surrounding tariffs on imported goods.
But, while manufacturing construction spending has nearly doubled or tripled, the overall domestic self-sufficiency ratio hit a decade-low level, indicating that imports still outpace the domestic production boom. And despite this investment, overall manufacturing capacity has only grown 1.5 percent.
But there are some sectors that are seeing strong signals for reshoring of manufacturing. While most low-value manufacturing – think t-shirts – will not return to the U.S. because of the cost differential, there is a clear move to reshore manufacturing in high-value and national security-critical sectors such as semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, and EV batteries.
Investments in such high-value manufacturing can take years between the start of construction and when actual production begins, which may explain the lag in an expansion of capacity. That argues that we should see the productivity boom such investments imply in years to come.
Denton, a trusted U.S. supplier, enables onshoring
For its part, Denton has already seen the onshoring and reshoring trends reflected in its own business, with a wave of repeat orders for thin‑film deposition platforms from long‑standing customers supporting the rapidly expanding U.S. data center ecosystem.
Investment in data centers is growing worldwide, but especially here in the U.S. Gartner, Inc., a business and technology insights company, forecasted earlier this year that total data center spending is expected to increase 31.7%, surpassing $650 billion in 2026, up from nearly $500 billion in 2025. Spending on servers alone is projected to accelerate in 2026, growing 36.9% year-over-year.
The acceleration of U.S. data center buildout is creating new performance requirements across optics, lasers and photonic integrated circuit (PIC) components. Denton systems are being deployed into production environments, manufacturing the co-packaged optics, lasers and PIC components essential to the emerging AI‑optimized data center infrastructure. Customers cited Denton’s process stability, uniformity performance, and low‑damage deposition capabilities as key reasons for expanding their investments
As a trusted U.S.-based global supplier of high‑performance coating technologies for mission‑critical high-technology hardware, Denton is uniquely positioned to help companies achieve their goals of reshoring or onshoring manufacturing and shortening their global supply chains.
Whether your goal is to increase manufacturing capacity and capabilities here in the U.S. or across the globe, Denton can help. Contact us today.