Apple, Nvidia, Taiwan Semiconductor, Eli Lilly, and dozens of other major companies have committed nearly $9 trillion in U.S. manufacturing investment in under a year. Former CIA and Pentagon advisor Jim Rickards says most people are missing the bigger story underneath it all.
Washington, D.C., May 03, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — In less than a year, some of the largest corporations on Earth have committed a staggering $9 trillion to build, expand, and relocate manufacturing operations on American soil. Jim Rickards has released a free video presentation examining what he believes is the most important and least-covered story underneath those headline numbers — and why he says most Americans are looking at only the surface of what is actually unfolding.
Apple has pledged $500 billion for a new advanced manufacturing facility in Houston. Nvidia has announced plans to invest as much as $500 billion. Taiwan Semiconductor is putting $100 billion toward manufacturing advanced chips domestically. Eli Lilly is investing $50 billion to establish four new U.S. manufacturing sites. Hyundai, GE Aerospace, Abbott Laboratories, and dozens of others are following suit.
It’s a wave of capital flowing into American industry at a scale that hasn’t been seen in generations. And according to Jim Rickards — an economist, best-selling author, and former advisor to the CIA, the Pentagon, and the White House — most people are focused on the headline number without asking the question that actually matters.
“You cannot have an industrial boom without energy from coal, oil, natural gas, or nuclear power,” Rickards said. “And you cannot have an industrial boom without metals like copper, iron ore, rare earth elements, lithium, and silicon.”
In other words, $9 trillion in new factories means an unprecedented surge in demand for the raw materials required to build and power them. And Rickards believes almost nobody is paying attention to what that means.
The Supply Chain Nobody’s Watching
Every new manufacturing facility requires steel, copper, concrete, and wiring. Every factory that comes online needs a power source. Every piece of advanced technology rolling off a new production line depends on critical minerals — many of which the U.S. currently imports almost entirely from abroad.
After years of offshoring production and neglecting domestic mining, the United States now relies on China for 100% of 15 key minerals. These are the materials that go into fighter jets, electric vehicle batteries, smartphones, laptops, and the semiconductor chips that the new factories are being built to produce.
“We’re completely dependent on our number one strategic competitor,” Rickards said. “That’s a huge problem for America.”
The $9 trillion in new manufacturing investment doesn’t just represent a reshoring trend. Rickards argues it represents a structural surge in demand for resources that the U.S. doesn’t currently produce at anywhere near sufficient scale.
A Government Response Unlike Anything in Modern History
Rickards’s presentation points to an aggressive federal push to close that gap — one he says has no modern precedent in scope or speed.
Earlier this year, an executive order titled “Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production” directed federal agencies to ramp up mining operations on public lands. The Financial Times has estimated those lands hold as much as $100 trillion in untapped mineral wealth.
Through a program called FAST-41, critical mining projects are being fast-tracked from permitting timelines that once stretched to 10 years down to a matter of weeks. The Thacker Pass lithium project in Nevada received its federal permits in just 89 days. The stated goal is to push that timeline down to 28 days.
“This is a true game-changer for the industry,” Rickards said. “A lot of big investors want nothing to do with mining projects because it normally could take over a decade for them to see any return. But with these accelerated permits, that entire equation has changed.”
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has captured the administration’s posture in a single phrase: “Everybody likes to say, ‘drill, baby, drill.’ I know that President Trump has another initiative for us, which is ‘mine, baby, mine.’”
The Pentagon Is Buying Mining Companies
Beyond regulatory changes, the federal government has taken an even more unusual step — investing directly in mining companies.
The Department of Defense put $400 million into MP Materials, a rare earth producer, becoming the company’s largest shareholder. As part of the deal, the government agreed to purchase the company’s output at a guaranteed floor price.
“The company now basically has a guaranteed buyer for its products,” Rickards said in his presentation. “The best kind of buyer you can ask for — a buyer with unlimited spending power. The U.S. government.”
A $35 million federal investment followed in Trilogy Metals, securing critical mining operations in Alaska. Reports indicate the administration is planning a direct equity stake in Lithium Americas. And a $5 billion mining investment fund is in the works, designed to take direct stakes in companies producing critical minerals domestically.
The CEO of the National Mining Association, Rich Nolan, has called it “the New Deal for minerals” — comparing the scale to FDR’s infrastructure programs during the Great Depression.
A Pattern That’s Repeated Throughout History
Rickards’s presentation says this isn’t theory. It’s a pattern that has played out before — and the results were staggering.
In the early 2000s, China’s state-backed industrialization effort consumed twice as much steel between 2000 and 2020 as the United States used during the entire 20th century. That state-driven demand triggered what economists call a supercycle — a sustained, multi-year boom in the value of metals, energy, and raw materials.
Rickards believes the same dynamic is now emerging in the United States, driven by two forces converging at once: a government-backed push to rebuild American industry, and a wave of nearly $9 trillion in private capital pouring in on top of it.
“Throughout history, every single industrialization effort has been powered by natural resources,” Rickards said. “I honestly never thought I would see another supercycle in my lifetime. But here we are.”
He’s not alone in that view. Adam Rozencwajg, who manages a natural resource hedge fund, has called this “the best opportunity that I’ve seen probably in the 150-odd years that we’ve been studying these markets.”
The Connection Most People Haven’t Made
Rickards believes the core disconnect is that most Americans see the manufacturing headlines — Apple building in Houston, Nvidia expanding domestically, chip fabs going up across the country — and think of it as a jobs story or a trade story. What they’re not seeing, he says, is the cascade of demand those commitments create underneath.
More factories mean more power consumption. More power means more nuclear energy, more natural gas, more uranium. More advanced manufacturing means more copper, more lithium, more rare earth elements. And all of it has to come from somewhere.
“After many years of underinvestment in the mining sector, we now rely on China for 100% of 15 key minerals,” Rickards said. “That’s why the response you’re seeing now is so aggressive. And that’s why I believe this is just the beginning.”
Rickards has published his full analysis through his research service, which is followed by thousands of readers nationwide.
About the Presentation
Jim Rickards’ full video presentation is free to watch and available for on-demand viewing at no cost. To access the complete session, click here.
About Jim Rickards and Paradigm Press
Jim Rickards is an economist, best-selling author, and former advisor to the CIA, the Pentagon, and the White House. Across nearly five decades in international finance, he played direct roles in the resolution of the Iran hostage crisis, the creation of the Petrodollar Accord, and the Federal Reserve’s response to the Long-Term Capital Management banking crisis. His books, including Currency Wars and The Death of Money, have been widely read across both Wall Street and the intelligence community. His work is published by Paradigm Press, an independent financial research firm. The publisher maintains a 4.8-star rating on Google across more than 1,900 public reviews from readers who follow its research and commentary.
CONTACT: Derek Warren Public Relations Manager Paradigm Press Group Email: dwarren@paradigmpressgroup.com
Source link
