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Trade Wars
Harley-Davidson To Reshore Revolution Max Engine Production
Harley-Davidson is planning to bring its Revolution Max engine production back to the United States, the motorcycle giant said Tuesday. The company will also bring back production of its Pan America, Sportster S and Nightster models to its U.S. facilities, which the engine powers, according to the press release. The announcement is part of Harley-Davidson’s “Back to the Bricks” strategy unveiled last month, which aims to restore the manufacturer’s financial performance, regain market share and improve dealer relationships.
Harley-Davidson’s production returning to the U.S. means it will bring machining, powertrain assembly, painting and final vehicle assembly work to its plants in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the company said. The transition is expected to be completed before production of its model year 2028 motorcycles begins in 2027. Moreover, Harley-Davidson anticipates manufacturing over 100,000 motorcycles at its York, Pennsylvania, facility in 2027. Changes to U.S. trade policy, accompanied by a volatile global trade environment, have led to “new opportunities” for companies to invest in domestic manufacturing, the company added.
Read more at Supply Chain Dive
Americans Are Warming Up To Homebuying For The First Time In 3 Years: Bank of America Survey
For the first time since 2023, most Americans think it's a better idea to buy a home than rent or move in with relatives. Fifty-three percent of respondents surveyed by Bank of America said it was better to buy a home now, up from 48% last year and 47% in 2024. Other measures of attitudes toward homeownership, such as the percentage of respondents who say a home is a valuable investment and provides stability, also improved.
The finding underscores how perceptions of homeownership are changing as housing becomes slightly more affordable. While it's still far more difficult to afford a home now than it was pre-pandemic, home price appreciation in much of the country has dropped below inflation and wage growth, and mortgage rates are slightly lower now than during the past three summers. As of May, the median home in the US was listed for $429,500, according to Realtor.com. That's down slightly from $440,000 last year, but 34% higher than May 2019, when the median was $319,500.
Read more at American Machinist
TTM Technologies Opens $130 Million Expansion In Dewitt, Adding 400 New Jobs
TTM Technologies on Monday opened a $130 million expansion of its printed circuit board plant, promising to create up to 400 new engineering and manufacturing jobs. TTM executives, joined by state and local elected officials, cut the ribbon on the 215,000-square-foot building that will be known as Syracuse Diamond. The plant will make electronics for the domestic defense and aerospace industries. The company’s ultra-high density printed circuit boards are used for radar, missile defense and other weapons systems.
Circuit boards, which connect computer chips to electronic devices, are mostly made overseas. About 96% of the world’s supply is made in China and other Asian nations, according to TTM. The company built the expansion on 23 acres along Fly Road in DeWitt near its existing plant on Kirkville Road, which already employs more than 500 people. TTM, based in California, bought Anaren Inc. of DeWitt in 2018. Under terms of a deal with the state, New York will provide TTM with up to $17 million in tax credits from the Excelsior Jobs program if the company meets its job and investment commitments.
Read more at Syracuse.com
India's Tata Electronics Hit By Cyber Breach Claiming To Expose Apple, Tesla Trade Secrets
Tata Electronics said on Monday it had detected a recent "cybersecurity incident", after researchers said World Leaks posted purported component design and specification papers of Apple and Tesla, both customers of the Indian group. The ransomware group has posted more than 200,000 files on the dark web, the security researchers told Reuters. Apple was investigating the breach and a "full analysis was going on", a source familiar with the matter said, adding that Tata had received a ransom demand related to the incident.
World Leaks, which has previously claimed responsibility for a Nike break-in, said on its dark net website that it was publishing stolen data from Tata Electronics. The World Leaks website says the Tata Electronics data comprises more than 200,000 files totaling over 630 gigabytes. A database on its website shows several purported Apple files and folders, some titled "com.apple.factorydata", and documents referring to "material specification". One folder on the World Leaks database was labelled "NV36 Chargeport Controller - North America", a purported reference to parts used in an upgraded version of Tesla's Model Y SUV. Another purported Tesla 2023 document described as "TRADE SECRET" showed certain drawings for its project Highland - a publicly known internal codename for its revamped Model 3 sedan.
Read more at Reuters
AbbVie to Buy Immunology Drugmaker Apogee for $10.9 Billion
AbbVie has agreed to buy Apogee Therapeutics for about $10.9 billion to bolster the pharmaceutical company’s core immunology franchise. AbbVie on Monday said it would pay $135.11 a share in cash, a 49% premium to Thursday’s closing price of $90.38 for the Waltham, Mass., biotechnology company. It is one of the industry’s largest deals so far this year. For AbbVie, the deal would add Apogee’s experimental drug zumilokibart, a potential rival to Dupixent from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi as a treatment for moderate to severe atopic dermatitis, the most common form of eczema.
AbbVie has long been dominant in immunology. The company has said sales from its autoimmune blockbusters Rinvoq and Skyrizi will top $31 billion this year. Those drugs filled a hole left by Humira, which at one point was the bestselling drug in the world. The AbbVie-Apogee deal is the latest in a string of biopharma acquisitions this year, as large drugmakers look to restock their pipelines ahead of patent expirations for blockbuster drugs. Analysts at Citi said the premium AbbVie is paying for Apogee doesn’t seem excessive, given the company’s strong data, a scarcity of high-quality immunology assets and Apogee’s strengthened position after its recent $1.3 billion financing collaboration with Blackstone.
Read more at The WSJ
Lucid Lays Off 18% Of Staff, Its Second Deep Cut In Four Months
Lucid Motors is laying off 18% of its workforce, roughly 1,500 employees, just four months after the EV maker cut 12% of its staff. The company also confirmed Monday that it has eliminated the second production shift at its Casa Grande, Arizona factory. It’s the second mass layoff under a new leadership regime that is barely three weeks old, and it lands as the US EV market cools and automakers retreat from their electric plans.
The cuts are the first major move by Silvio Napoli, who took over as Lucid’s CEO earlier this year and only formally assumed the role on June 1. Lucid says the restructuring will “simplify the company, sharpen execution, and position Lucid to become more competitive over time.” Lucid reported 9,000 employees globally at the end of 2025, before February’s 12% reduction. This round hits full-time staff, contractors, and hourly production workers. The company says the moves will deliver roughly $158 million in annualized savings, with the restructuring complete by the third quarter. Lucid will pay about $32 million in severance. Eliminating the second shift in Casa Grande is the most telling part. Lucid framed it as aligning “production plans with anticipated demand,” which is a polite way of saying it isn’t selling enough cars to justify the capacity it built.
Read more at electrek
Pentagon Issues $2.3B for F-35 Sustainment
The U.S. Dept. of War assigned $2.29 billion to Lockheed Martin for “non-recurring sustainment activities and services” connected with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. Pentagon overseers have become steadily more frustrated with the combat readiness of the F-35 aircraft fleet. Earlier this year Lockheed acknowledged the long-standing F-35 fleet-readiness problems, reportedly committing $1 billion to resolve them. Lockheed Martin is the lead contractor for the F-35 program, which is a single-engine stealth-enabled fighter jet in use by the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marine Corps, and U.S. Navy, and defense forces of 19 other nations.
The largest U.S. defense program started in 2001 and low-rate initial production began in 2007. More than 1,300 aircraft have been built to date, and over 800 of those are in service with the three U.S. operators. The number of domestic suppliers to the F-35 program is estimated to be up to 1,900. But the full-rate production is now straining the sustainment infrastructure for the program, meaning skilled workers and facilities, plus technical data, supply chains, maintenance systems, and engineering support needed to support the aircraft once they are delivered to the operators. The new contract - which runs through December 2028 - will fund Lockheed Martin as it supports the expansion of program’s training centers, supply depots, and service hubs, plus the cost of managing fleet support activities.
Read more at American Machinist
Transmission Line from Canada to NYC Complete
North America’s longest fully-buried transmission line has begun delivering Canadian hydropower to New York City, state policymakers and grid officials said Tuesday. The $6-billion Champlain-Hudson Power Express is expected to deliver 10.4 TWh annually, helping meet up to 20% of the city’s electric needs. Construction was completed ahead of schedule and power flows from Hydro-Québec to New York commenced June 1.
Champlain-Hudson will help to replace the Indian Point nuclear plant, which was shuttered in 2021. Since Indian Point’s closure, New York City has relied more on gas-fired plants that have caused emissions downstate to grow, according to a statement from Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul. According to analysis by the Times Union, more than 90% of the capacity lost when Indian Point shuttered its two 1-GW units in 2020 and 2021 was replaced by fossil fuels. Electric reliability across the region this summer will benefit from newly completed transmission projects, the Northeast Power Coordinating Council said last week.
Read more at Utility Dive
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