Fermenting the Future: Inside the Pentagon’s $80 Million Biomanufacturing Bet—and America’s New Industrial Strategy

By investing $80 million to transform a small California fermentation plant into a national biomanufacturing facility, the U.S. is signaling that biology may be the next frontier of industrial policy. This week’s announcement that BioMADE and Lygos—partnering with the Department of Defense—will convert Lygos’ pilot plant in Hayward, CA into a multi-user biotech production site is more than a science story. It marks a strategic shift in how America plans to make critical goods, blending economic policy with national security in much the same way last year’s CHIPS Act supercharged domestic semiconductor fabs. Policymakers and investors should take note: the bioeconomy is poised to join chips and clean energy at the heart of America’s post-pandemic industrial realignment.

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