Defense, aerospace companies eye Arizona expansion as state’s project pipeline widens
Hadrian
When California defense and aerospace company Hadrian took the wraps off its AI- and robotics-driven factory in Mesa earlier this month, Sandra Watson was in a familiar place – in front of the TV cameras with ribbon-cutting scissors in hand, touting another project win for the state from a fast-track startup that intends to hire more than 300 well-paid advanced manufacturing workers.
This week, the president and CEO of the Arizona Commerce Authority is going back for more.
Aided by a few select members of the Valley business community, she’s looking to help convince a dozen CEOs from out-of-state companies that they should expand or relocate to the state.
It helps that the backdrop for some of these face-to-face meetings is the “Greatest Show on Grass” at the 2026 WM Phoenix Open — where the executives invited by the ACA gathered at a suite on Wednesday and Thursday at the Scottsdale golf course under postcard-perfect skies.
It’s all in a day’s work for Watson, who says the pipeline of activity for the ACA is showing no signs of slowing down this year, even with the flurry of major corporate relocations or expansions unveiled or completed in 2025.
At the moment, about half-way through the ACA’s current fiscal year that began last July, it has 469 active projects in its pipeline, representing a potential $192.6 billion in capital investment.
If all of those projects were to come to fruition they would potentially represent 122,969 projected new jobs with average wages of more than $72,000. For context, consider that Arizona’s labor force grew by 92,885 workers from 2024 to 2025, a growth rate of 2.5% that put the state within the top four in the country.