SPARROWS POINT, Md.—President Donald Trump announced on Oct. 6 a $6.6 billion joint investment by the U.S. Navy and Anduril Industries in Baltimore County to strengthen American naval shipbuilding capabilities.
The new submarine facility at the former Bethlehem Steel site is expected to create more than 3,000 direct jobs, Anduril Industries said. The defense technology firm will contribute $3.7 billion to the project to manufacture critical components for the Virginia-class submarine.
“Today, we’re officially launching the construction of the largest new shipyard in the United States,” Trump said at Tradepoint Atlantic in Sparrows Point.
The president praised his policies, stating that they’re creating “a golden age of shipbuilding.”
‘This is [the largest] since World War II. There’s been nothing like what we’re doing today,” he said.
According to the White House, the new facility, which will be completed by 2030, will create more than 13,000 direct and indirect jobs, and generate $2 billion in annual economic output.
Trump spoke for nearly 30 minutes to the audience composed mostly of U.S. Navy personnel.
The project is located at Tradepoint Atlantic, a 3,300-acre logistics and industrial hub in Sparrows Point. The former Bethlehem Steel facility supplied steel for both world wars.
The facility aims to expand America’s submarine industrial base while reviving Sparrows Point’s legacy of naval shipbuilding.
“It’s a shipyard, but a very different kind of shipyard, to contribute to the Virginia-class submarine program and additional maritime capabilities,” Chris Brose, Anduril’s chief strategy officer, said during a call with reporters on Oct. 6.
“Anduril’s portion of this will be around $3.7 billion invested, and that will be the cost of standing up the facility, building the workforce, filling it with modern technology and other capabilities required to do the work that we will be tasked with.”
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore also welcomed the investment.
“This massive new project will deliver the largest private investment and create the most jobs in Maryland in over a decade,” Moore said in a statement on Oct. 6.
Anduril founder Palmer Luckey, along with billionaire Elon Musk and former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, has been selected to lead Project Meridian, a new Pentagon initiative to determine the military capabilities, technologies, and weapons the United States may need in future wars.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the initiative on Sept. 30.
Anduril, the maker of the Altius drone used by Taiwan, is now considered one of Silicon Valley’s top defense companies.
In December 2025, China sanctioned Luckey and his companies for shipping arms to Taiwan.
In a statement on X, Luckey mocked Beijing’s move, describing the sanction as his “final Christmas gift.”
“Anduril has been sanctioned for a while now, as have many of my peers, but it means so much to finally have my non-existent Chinese assets seized and repurposed,” he said.
“The sanctions also prohibit all Chinese nationals from engaging with me in any way, which should really clear up my social media feeds.”
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