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Capabilities overview · for states, governors & economic-development offices

What Applied America does for a state.

A state names the industry it wants. We bring the companies, capital providers and institutions that industry needs, and assemble and commit the capital stack behind each project. We carry the public-side work — sites, permits, power, the utility and the county — through construction, for the jobs, local economic impact and tax revenue that follow. We are a nonprofit division of the Center for Economics & Foreign Affairs.

Market context

2,061 GWGeneration & storage queued for interconnection — end of 2025LBNL Queued Up, 2026 edition
13%Of capacity that asked to connect in 2000–2020, the share built by the end of 2025LBNL Queued Up, 2026 edition
226 GWERCOT large-load requests — data centers are 73% of themERCOT, Apr 2026
4–7 yrsTo connect a large load in most marketsRMI; Ascend Analytics, 2026

Largest announced U.S. investors · $bn

Nearly two trillion dollars announced since 2025

The competition for delivery capacity — power, sites, government responsiveness — is now the binding problem, not the capital.

  1. Apple$600bn
  2. TSMC$265bn
  3. Micron$250bn
  4. IBM$150bn
  5. Texas Instruments$60bn
IndustrialSage U.S. Manufacturing Investment Tracker, Aug 2026.
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Building industries, not announcing projects

Every service line is instrumental to three outcomes. If an engagement does not move one of them, it is not worth commissioning.

01Jobs that hold their wageProduction and trade employment measured against the regional wage, with a pathway into it for people already living in the county — not net in-migration counted as growth.
02Local economic impact that compoundsSupplier tiers, contractors and services located in state rather than imported for the build — the difference between a facility in a county and an industry in a region.
03Tax revenue that survives the abatementNet fiscal position across the full life of the agreement, including infrastructure and ratepayer cost — the number a successor administration will be asked about.
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The gap in the advisory market

States are well served on analysis and on transactions. The gap sits between them, where the work is political as well as technical.

Strategy consultanciesRigorous market and cluster analysis, delivered as a plan. Rarely present when the plan meets a legislature, a utility commission, or a hostile county hearing.
Site-selection and tax firmsDeep transactional capability, but their client is usually the company. Their incentive is to maximize the award, not to defend it afterward.
Applied AmericaWe assemble the project with the state, the utility and the county, bring the capital to it, and stay through the hearing, the vote and the ribbon. We take no compensation tied to its financing, so the award we want is the one the state can still defend after a change of administration.

We work the supply side — the state, the utility, the county — and we disclose every interest we hold before an introduction is made.

We take no part in negotiating the state’s incentive award; the office that will defend it negotiates it.

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Six things we bring to the table

Analysis is the smaller part of the work. Bringing these six to a state is the larger part.

01ProjectsNamed companies at a defined stage, in the sectors we publish on, matched to states whose power, sites and labor actually fit the requirement.
02Capital providersThe parties who write the cheque, at the table early: industrial private equity, family offices, rural opportunity funds and federal credit programs. We convene them, we introduce them, and we commit capital alongside them. We do not place securities.
03Financial institutionsCommercial and investment banks, institutional investors, insurers and bond counsel — the parties who price the project rather than admire it.
04Professional counterpartiesLegal and tax counsel, engineering and EPC firms, and industrial development companies who build and own the shell so the state does not have to.
05Research institutionsUniversity and national-laboratory partners for the process work, testbeds and technician curriculum that anchor an industry rather than a single plant.
06TeamsOperators, not analysts: plant start-up and commissioning leadership, training-program builders, and interim EDO leadership when a seat is open.
05

Deciding what to compete for, and proving you can deliver it

Three mandates set the target, retire the delivery risk, and price the deal. Most states commission one or two. Two further mandates — Fund and Close — bring the capital and carry the project to financial close.

  1. Industrial strategy · DecideWhat to compete for, and which nodes of the chain to hold: competitive position honestly stated, sector theses matched to real assets, supply-chain node targeting, and sequencing against your calendar.Twelve to sixteen weeks · publishable strategy, costed prerequisite list, two-year sequencing plan.
  2. Deliverability · ProvePower and sites, answered in writing before marketing: a deliverable-capacity map by substation and date, a large-load tariff position, site portfolio triage, and readiness capital and diligence packages.Sixteen weeks · capacity map, tariff position paper, graded site inventory, diligence packages.
  3. Terms · PriceIncentives and large-load conditions that survive scrutiny: statute and program review, award structure and clawbacks, standing large-load conditions, and a community-benefit formula.Eight to twelve weeks · program redesign memorandum, award template, conditions framework, net-benefit model.
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What we are not

Not a municipal advisor

We do not advise a municipal entity or an obligated person on municipal financial products or on the issuance of municipal securities. What we give a public body is general information of the kind we make available generally: not particularized to your circumstances, and not a recommendation on the structure, timing or terms of any security. A public body considering a financing should engage and rely on its own independent registered municipal advisor.

Not a broker, dealer or placement agent

We do not place securities, and we are not registered as a broker, dealer, investment adviser or funding portal. We develop the projects we work on and commit capital alongside them; any offering connected to a project is made by its issuer, under that issuer’s own documents.

No duty of care unless one is signed

No discussion, introduction or working relationship creates a fiduciary, advisory, agency or partnership relationship, or any duty of care, unless we have agreed to one in a signed agreement. Where we introduce parties to one another, each runs its own diligence and makes its own decision.

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The full capabilities overview

Capabilities overview · PDFApplied America — Capabilities OverviewThe market context, who we are, what we do and what we deliver — the sector theses, the five mandates and the value chain. Prepared August 2026; every figure is sourced and dated as of then.
Download the deck · PDF · 0.3 MB

An incentive that cannot survive an audit, a hearing, and a change of administration was never a win.

We test every recommendation against three questions: does it hold up in the fiscal note, does it hold up in front of a county commission, and does it hold up when someone else is Governor.

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Also for

Embassies & Governments How a foreign ministry reaches the states — read it when your inbound interest arrives as a delegation rather than as a developer.Sponsors & Developers The same deal from the other side of the table: what a $100M+ sponsor is actually asking your office to answer, and by when.
Capabilities Overview — Applied America