It’s just business: manufacturing moves from Intel, Standard Bots, SEG Solar and more

The business of manufacturing never stops. Industrial companies merge, invest and strategically expand to keep competitive, even under adverse business conditions. Read on for more details on five such expansions and acquisitions made by industrial and manufacturing companies.

Expansion: SEG Solar announced June1 it would build its third U.S. factory in Houston, Texas. According to the solar module manufacturer, the latest factory will bring the company’s total module production capacity to 10.6 GW a year. The June 1 announcement follows a previous announcement in May the company planned to build a different factory, also in Houston, which the company now says it expects to open in early August of this year. Construction on the third factory is expected to finish in March 2027 with production starting two months later.

Acquisition: Oklo Inc. closed a deal to acquire ARMEC on June 4. The deal unites Oklo’s nuclear technology company with ARMEC’s precision manufacturing and engineering company. In a June 8 company release, company leadership said the purchase is expected to expand Oklo’s vertically-integrated reactor and fuel manufacturing program. ARMEC brings to the company about 40 employees, including engineers, fabricators, machinists, welders and other technical personnel. In the June 8 statement, Oklo CEO Jacob DeWitte said the purchase provides his company with expanded practical engineering, fabrication, inspection, and procurement expertise. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Partnership: Xylem announced June 8 it had expanded an existing partnership with Dow to support Dow’s “Path2Zero” wastewater treatment project. According to a Xylem release, the agreement now includes an end-to-end solution for wastewater treatment at Dow’s Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada chemical plant. Xylem VP of Water Solutions and Services Rodney Aulick said the expanded deal is a “milestone” for the company in demonstrating its “total water management” capabilities.

Expansion: Standard Bots, a startup industrial robotics manufacturer, announced June 9 that it would expand its Glen Cove, New York factory to 70,000 square feet. The company didn’t specify the existing footprint or current output but said it’s currently on pace to deliver 10% more industrial robot deployments by next year. In a statement, CEO Evan Beard said robots like the company’s own “AI-native” robots are critical for the future of U.S. manufacturing.

Partnership: Intel Corp. and Alphabet Co.’s Google announced June 4 that Google would use Intel’s graphics processing units in future A.I. data centers, CNBC reported. Neither company disclosed terms of the deal, including timelines or financial terms, but the terms of the detail mean Google will break from other A.I. companies largely using Nvidia’s A.I.-specialized graphics processing units by using Intel’s Xeon 6 CPUs instead.