Employers
Carrier Global Corp. plans to invest more than $600 million over the next three years in a new advanced manufacturing and engineering center in Fort Worth, Texas, and says the project will create 1,500 jobs, the company announced Thursday, Oct. 22. The facility, of more than 1 million square feet, is expected to begin operations in 2027.
The 1,500 figure is a company projection of “advanced manufacturing, engineering and other jobs,” not a count of positions open today. Carrier’s release does not break the total down by role, give wages, or say how quickly hiring will ramp.
What the plant will make
The Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.-based company said the center will expand its U.S. capacity for advanced thermal management systems, including air- and water-cooled commercial chillers, serving data centers, health care, education, industrial and other markets. Carrier tied the decision to record backlog levels in its commercial HVAC business. The center will combine manufacturing with engineering labs and workforce development, and Carrier said it will partner with local schools and colleges to prepare skilled workers. It is expected to pursue LEED certification.
Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker said in the release that the project “will add to Fort Worth’s manufacturing hub at AllianceTexas.” Ross Perot Jr., chairman of AllianceTexas developer Hillwood, was also quoted. The release does not give a street address.
How the numbers changed
The announcement is considerably larger than the version Fort Worth officials described before Carrier made its choice. At an Aug. 25 City Council work session, the city’s economic development staff presented a proposed Carrier plant valued at $433.8 million, made up of $36 million in real property construction and $397.8 million in equipment, at Alliance Westport 12, 1501 Distribution Drive, a 1.2 million-square-foot Hillwood building, according to the Fort Worth Report. The company would have committed to a minimum of 495 jobs by the end of 2029 with a minimum average salary of $75,000. At that time, Fort Worth was competing with sites in other states, including Virginia and Alabama.
The city proposed a seven-year, 60% tax abatement on real and business personal property valued at $10.9 million, plus a nomination for a Texas Enterprise Zone grant estimated at $2.5 million, Community Impact reported. If Carrier missed the minimum investment, job or salary commitments, it could forfeit the abatement. At its Sept. 15 meeting, the council approved an ordinance creating a tax abatement reinvestment zone and nominated the project for Enterprise Zone designation, according to Community Impact.
Those earlier figures were minimums in a proposed incentive deal, and the 1,500-job, $600 million-plus figures are Carrier’s own announcement. Neither the company nor the city has said whether the incentive terms were revised to reflect the larger project. A Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation filing registered Oct. 14 for “Project Jay – Carrier” at the same Alliance Westport 12 address lists a $500 million estimated cost, upgrades to about 600,000 square feet of the building, infrastructure for three manufacturing lines, and construction from Dec. 1, 2026, to Sept. 1, 2027, NTX Front Porch reported. That filing, too, uses a different dollar figure, and the records do not reconcile the amounts.
What it means for job seekers
If the timeline holds, the first hiring would line up with a 2027 opening, with the full 1,500 reached later. The earlier city documents suggest the mix: the proposed facility was described as including manufacturing, warehousing, engineering, operations, testing and administrative functions. For production workers and technicians in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the plant would add another large manufacturer at AllianceTexas; the Alliance Westport 12 site discussed in August sits next to Wistron’s recently opened plant, which makes components for data centers.
The key unknowns are pay and the schedule for hiring. The only salary figure on record, a $75,000 minimum average, belongs to the smaller August proposal, and it should not be read as the wage for the project Carrier announced Thursday.
Sources
- Carrier Global Corporation via PR Newswire, “Carrier to Invest More Than $600 Million to Expand Advanced U.S. Manufacturing and Engineering Capacity,” October 22, 2026. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/carrier-to-invest-more-than-600-million-to-expand-advanced-us-manufacturing-and-engineering-capacity-302916232.html
- MarketScreener (S&P Capital IQ), “Carrier Global Corporation Announces Plans to Open New Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering Center in Fort Worth, Texas,” October 22, 2026. https://www.marketscreener.com/news/carrier-global-corporation-announces-plans-to-open-new-advanced-manufacturing-and-engineering-center-ce785cded889f325
- Fort Worth Report, “Fort Worth competing for a $433.8M HVAC manufacturing plant from Carrier Corp.,” August 25, 2026. https://fortworthreport.org/2026/08/25/fort-worth-competing-for-a-433-8m-hvac-manufacturing-plant-from-carrier-corp/
- Community Impact, “Fort Worth aims to secure $433.8M Carrier Global Corporation plant,” September 18, 2026 (updated October 16, 2026). https://communityimpact.com/keller-roanoke-northeast-fort-worth/development/fort-worth-aims-to-secure-433-8m-carrier-global-corporation-plant/
- NTX Front Porch, “State Filing Details $500 Million Manufacturing Project Near Alliance,” October 15, 2026. https://ntxfrontporch.com/state-filing-details-500-million-manufacturing-project-near-alliance/
Featured photo: A Carrier chiller installed in a large commercial building in Brisbane, Australia, photographed July 20, 2021. Representative image; not the planned Fort Worth facility. Photo: Kgbo, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Cropped from the original.
