Honeywell Aerospace plans a $500 million manufacturing facility in Tempe, Arizona, which it expects to open in late 2028. The 300,000-square-foot plant, announced on October 28, 2026, is expected to create about 600 permanent jobs and add in-house machining capacity for commercial and defense programs, the company said.
Tempe city officials said construction of the facility will support more than 1,000 local jobs, which together with the permanent roles points to roughly 1,600 positions. Tempe City Manager Rosa Inchausti said the investment is expected to support the local workforce and attract new talent to the region. The plant will sit on the existing Tempe campus of Honeywell Aerospace, a Phoenix-headquartered company that completed its separation from Honeywell International earlier this year and now trades on Nasdaq as HONA. Furthermore, the company said the plant will deepen its engineering bench and skilled workforce, so hiring will matter alongside construction.
The same Valley labor market is also carrying a far larger build in Peoria, the Amkor Peoria advanced packaging campus, which broke ground in October 2025 at a planned $7 billion. On September 8, 2026, Amkor Technology announced a second phase that lifts planned investment to approximately $12 billion, with the two phases together expected to support more than 3,500 Arizona-based employees. Construction of phase 2 is anticipated to begin in late 2027 and finish by the end of 2029, so Honeywell and Amkor could draw on overlapping pools of technicians and engineers across Greater Phoenix.
Honeywell Aerospace Tempe Facility to Add In-House Machining and Digital Production
The Honeywell Aerospace Tempe facility is described by the company as a from-the-ground-up plant built around an integrated digital production system. It will use modular robotics, automated inspection and digital twins, all tied together by an end-to-end digital thread.
In addition, Honeywell said the Honeywell Aerospace Tempe facility will add internal complex machining capability, an area of its supply base that the company described as currently constrained. As a result, the plant is intended to give the company a more vertically integrated production system.
The facility is planned for next-generation products including Assure advanced actuation systems and Attune vapor cycle cooling subsystems. The announcement did not give a product-by-product capacity target.
At 300,000 square feet, the Honeywell Aerospace Tempe facility will offer roughly the floor area of five American football fields. The announcement describes the site as near the company’s global headquarters, and local reporting places the existing Tempe campus near Priest Drive and Warner Road.
Honeywell Aerospace CEO Jim Currier said the investment reinforces the company’s commitment to Arizona, adding that the state has been “at the heart of our innovation and manufacturing operations for decades.”
Honeywell Aerospace Tempe Facility Tied to Defense Framework and Program Wins
Honeywell said the Honeywell Aerospace Tempe facility will support customer growth on current programs, along with $15 billion in new Control Systems program wins. Moreover, the company stated that the plant will add capacity for priority production of defense technologies covered by a supplier framework agreement signed with the U.S. Department of War in March.
That March agreement covers increased production of navigation systems, Assure electronic control and actuation systems, and electronic warfare solutions. Honeywell described itself as one of the first Tier 1 suppliers to sign an agreement of this kind.
The agreement also carried its own $500 million multi-year investment commitment. The Tempe announcement did not say how, if at all, that commitment overlaps with the budget for the Honeywell Aerospace Tempe facility, so the two figures should be treated as separately reported.
Meanwhile, the timing follows Honeywell Aerospace’s emergence as an independent, publicly traded company. Jim Currier said that independence allows the company to make investments of this kind in support of growth in aviation and defense.
Honeywell Aerospace reports more than 36,000 employees worldwide and more than 10,000 customers. Therefore, a plant with 600 jobs equals about 1.7 percent of its global workforce, but it concentrates capacity in the machining step that the company says constrains its supply base.
Honeywell Aerospace Tempe Facility Jobs Include 600 Permanent Roles, Delivery Team Not Yet Named
According to the City of Tempe, the Honeywell Aerospace Tempe facility is expected to employ 600 people once open and to support more than 1,000 local construction jobs.
Tempe Mayor Corey Woods called the project the “largest aerospace investment in Tempe’s history” and said it sets the stage for further growth in the region’s aerospace, technology and manufacturing sectors.
Honeywell said the new roles will increase its engineering depth and skilled workforce. However, the announcement did not break the 600 jobs down by trade or give a hiring timeline.
Honeywell published the announcement as an exhibit to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The announcement materials do not name an architect or general contractor, and they give no groundbreaking date, permit schedule or public incentive package for the Honeywell Aerospace Tempe facility.
As a result, the next milestones to watch are a groundbreaking date, Tempe permit filings and the first job postings, with the late 2028 opening target roughly two years away.
Project Overview
- Project Name: Honeywell Aerospace Tempe Manufacturing Facility
- Developer or Owner: Honeywell Aerospace (Nasdaq: HONA)
- Location: Existing Tempe campus, near the company’s global headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona
- Project Type: Aerospace and defense manufacturing plant with a digital production system
- Project Value: $500 million
- Floor Area: 300,000 square feet
- Site Area: Not publicly disclosed
- Production Technology: Integrated digital production system, modular robotics, automated inspection, digital twins, end-to-end digital thread
- Products and Capabilities: Assure advanced actuation systems, Attune vapor cycle cooling subsystems, in-house complex machining
- Status: Announced October 28, 2026; pre-construction
- Construction Start: Not publicly disclosed
- Target Completion: Opening scheduled for late 2028
- Permanent Jobs: Approximately 600 (Honeywell Aerospace)
- Construction Jobs: More than 1,000 local jobs (City of Tempe)
- Programs Supported: Current programs, $15 billion in Control Systems new program wins, defense production under the March 2026 supplier framework agreement with the U.S. Department of War
Project Team
- Owner and Developer: Honeywell Aerospace
- Public Body, Host City: City of Tempe
- Public Body, Defense Customer Under Framework Agreement: U.S. Department of War
- Architect: Not yet disclosed
- General Contractor: Not yet disclosed
- Related Project Developer (Amkor Peoria Campus): Amkor Technology
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