Fujifilm Diosynth Holly Springs Expansion

Holly Springs is turning into one of the largest biologics manufacturing sites in the Western Hemisphere, and it got there in about six years. Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies is putting another $1.2 billion into the campus, which brings total investment past $3.2 billion. Jacobs is delivering the expansion.

Project Scope

The expansion adds 425,500 square feet and eight new 20,000-liter mammalian cell culture bioreactors for bulk drug substance, targeted for 2028. That effectively doubles the site’s large-scale cell culture capacity. Headcount goes up by roughly 680, with the site aiming at about 1,400 employees by 2031.

Bioreactor halls at this scale are not ordinary industrial shells. Clean utilities, single-use versus stainless decisions, WFI loops, and validation sequencing drive the schedule more than steel does, and commissioning-qualification-validation typically runs a year past mechanical completion. Jacobs is carrying design and delivery on a site that is already running commercial production, which puts a premium on how the tie-ins get staged.

Why It Matters

The demand behind this is contractual, not speculative. Fujifilm signed a 10-year U.S. manufacturing agreement with Regeneron valued above $3 billion, and CDMO capacity in the U.S. has been the choke point for antibody and biologic supply since the pandemic. Onshoring pressure and biosecurity policy have made domestic fill-finish and drug-substance capacity a strategic asset.

For the Research Triangle, this is the second act of a life sciences build cycle that started with Novo Nordisk and Amgen. The trades that learned pharma-grade process piping and controls on those jobs now have a pipeline that runs to the end of the decade.

Project Team & Details