Guam eyes semiconductor production, drug manufacturing
- Admin
- 4 hours ago
- 3 min read
By Pacific Island Times News Staff
Guam is setting an ambitious goal to shift gears toward technological production as part of its economic diversification, while reassessing its tourism strategy.
“We are developing an industrial park to prepare Guam for rapid-deployment manufacturing, including potential CHIPS-related semiconductor and advanced
component production and we are actively exploring pharmaceutical manufacturing to support both civilian and defense needs in the region,” Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero said Wednesday.
Speaking before the Guam Chamber of Commerce, Leon Guerrero said the government is “making the upfront investments needed to move quickly when opportunity comes.”
“This is how Guam competes—not by waiting, but by preparing,” the governor said. “By putting land, infrastructure, workforce and regulatory readiness in place so that when investors are ready to move, Guam is ready too.”
The governor said her recent meeting with Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, along with senior public-sector leaders and private investors, generated discussions on creating new industries to Guam, including vertical agriculture, aquaculture, data centers and high-tech infrastructure and next-generation
manufacturing that aligns with U.S. supply chain priorities.
Additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, is Guam’s first technology-related project, spearheaded by Astro America in partnership with the U.S. Navy and the territorial government.
“This effort is about diversifying our economy, building a highly skilled technical workforce and positioning Guam as a critical hub in the Indo-Pacific for submarine industrial base capability and STEM careers,” the governor said.
The manufacturing center is under construction in Dededo.
“When operational—expected as early as April—this facility will house advanced 3D printing and manufacturing systems capable of producing
mission-critical components right here on the island,” the governor said.
“For Guam, it means good-paying jobs, new technical career paths and a local workforce equipped for the industries of tomorrow,” she added.
While saying “tourism is rebuilding” and “recovery is underway,” Leon Guerrero
noted the industry’s volatility and challenges highlighted by landmark institutions folding their Guam operations, such as Hard Rock Café and DFS Galleria.
“Those closures affect workers and families, and they deserve to be acknowledged honestly. But they must also be understood clearly,” the
governor said.
She noted that global tourism is changing, along with travelers’ behaviors, demands and expectations from destinations.
“Even in Hawaiʻi—one of the world’s most established tourism destinations—DFS is withdrawing. That does not signal the end of tourism,” the governor said. “It signals a shift in what tourism demands. This moment does not ask us to defend the past. It asks us to compete in the present.”
Just the same, tourism remains Guam’s core industry, Leon Guerrero said.
She reported that hotel occupancy tax collections increased by 12 percent from 2023 to 2024. Monthly arrivals surged by more than 30 percent compared to the year before—a pace that has carried into this fiscal year.
Visitor arrivals in fiscal year 2026 to date have risen by 28.7 percent. In 2024
alone, the visitor economy drove over $1.4 billion in business sales across
Guam and supported more than 14,000 jobs.
Construction is still the island’s economic salvation, the governor said, projecting substantial increases in public and private undertakings this year.
“Defense investment continues to anchor demand at a scale few communities in America experience,” she said. “Over the past decade, the Department of Defense has directed more than $5 billion in military construction and family housing investment to Guam.”
While new investments promise opportunities, they also carry corresponding burdens, such as pressure on housing and infrastructure, labor market disruptions and labor shortages.
“That is why I have continually pressed federal officials within the Executive Branch and in Congress to convene a rare meeting of the Department of Defense’s Economic Adjustment Committee,” the governor said.
“I am pleased to share that preliminary coordination meetings are expected to begin soon, marking an important step toward aligning federal investment
with Guam’s long-term economic health,” the governor said.
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