In 2022, for the tenth consecutive year, the U.S. was the world’s No. 1 destination for FDI, according to Kearney’s Global Business Policy Council’s 2022 Foreign Direct Investment Confidence Index. Efficiency of the legal and regulatory processes and transparency of government regulations with a lack of corruption are the two top factors shaping investment in the Americas, according to Kearney’s study. Other factors leading to U.S. attractiveness for FDI include a large consumer base and highly skilled workforce.

Consequently, many foreign parent companies have chosen to build a subsidiary operation from the ground up, i.e., greenfield investment, as a means to increase production capacity and alleviate supply chain disruptions while gaining access to this consumer base and workforce. This trend puts engineering, design, and construction firms at the forefront of economic development.

And while today’s higher borrowing costs translate into higher construction costs, making build-to-suits challenging, the industrial construction pipeline remains at record levels, reaching an all-time high of 716.9 million square feet, according to a recent report by Cushman & Wakefield. Much of this construction is speculative development, as the pandemic-induced surge in e-commerce pushed the demand for new warehouse and logistics space to record-breaking levels. Of course, there are questions about this surge lasting. In fact, Prologis is predicting that U.S. warehouse development starts will drop to a seven-year low as the cost of capital rises.