Spending on construction projects for manufacturing plants in the US started breaking out of its long doldrums in January 2021. That month, about $6 billion was invested in building factories, same as in January 2015. But then monthly construction spending for factories began to spike and in July set a new record of nearly $17 billion, a notch up from June, according to the Census Bureau on Friday. Up by 186% over the 30 months from January 2021 through July 2023. Up by 148% over the 24 months from July 2021 through July 2023. At the current pace, companies are investing nearly $17 billion per month in building manufacturing plants, or about $203 billion a year! We've been hearing it in the news and in corporate reports: Semiconductor plants, EV plants ?" Tesla, legacy automakers, and startup companies are plowing many billions of dollars into ramping up manufacturing ?" component makers, makers of computer, electronic, and electrical equipment, etc. The latter bunch ar