Illinois may be on a fast track to becoming a hub for business relocation and expansion again after high-profile corporate exits barraged the state over the past few years.

The Land of Lincoln brought in $12.5B in investments in the fiscal year that ended June 30, up 85.6% over last year, according to a new analysis from Intersect Illinois. The state’s public-private partnership for economic development also said 440 projects expanded or located in Illinois in the fiscal year, up 15.2% over last year.

The results represent a marked shift in corporate attitudes toward the state since 2022 when big names like Citadel, Boeing and Caterpillar fled Illinois and moved their headquarters to other parts of the country.

Illinois’ welcoming attitude toward new business, spearheaded by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, has made it easier for the state to entice more corporations to expand and relocate, said Christy George, president and CEO of Intersect Illinois.

“Particularly coming out of the pandemic, we have a much more collaborative spirit with our business community,” George said. “The way in which the governor has talked about doing business and being open for business has changed coming out of the pandemic. The last three years, the governor spent a lot of time focusing on ensuring the fiscal stability of the state [and] changing our reputation.”

The most significant corporate investment in Illinois for the fiscal year was Gotion’s $2B commitment to build an electric vehicle lithium battery manufacturing plant in Manteno. The project, announced in September 2023, is expected to add 2,600 new jobs that pay at least 120% of the average wage of similar jobs in Kankakee County.

“With 2,600 new jobs, a $2B gigafactory, and the most significant new manufacturing investment in Illinois in decades — it's the most recent proof that we are in a new paradigm,” Pritzker said at the time. “Illinois is on the rise, and we're open for business.”

George said Gotion’s investment contributed heavily to the bottom line. The state saw an uptick in EV and energy projects across the board and got a boost from the logistics sector as well, she said.

Earlier this year, Italian food manufacturer The Perla Co. USA purchased a 174K SF industrial building for more than $20M to serve as its U.S. headquarters.

Aluflexpack AG, a Swiss manufacturer of circular flexible packaging and barrier solutions, announced in January it would expand its operations to the U.S. through a newly acquired Bolingbrook facility.

Companies are choosing the state because of its strong infrastructure, central location in the U.S. and highly educated workforce, George said.

While not counted in the statistics for the 2024 fiscal year, PsiQuantum’s $1B investment in the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park as its anchor tenant is another major win for the state, George said. Illinois leaders expect the investment to lead to other opportunities in the nascent quantum sector.

The state offered $200M to PsiQuantum in grants, workforce development assistance, a low-interest loan and other incentives to lure it to the Midwest, and the project is expected to come online in 2027. The incentive package is a part of the $500M lawmakers carved out in May to support the development of the regional quantum information science and technology campus aimed at luring high-tech firms.

But the state is facing a $3.2B shortfall in 2025, and Pritzker's bookkeepers have warned that “the ability to fund new programs will be severely limited” in the new fiscal year. That could make it more difficult to fund generous incentives to keep the flow of new companies coming.

A new presidential administration less friendly to Democratic-run Illinois and Chicago could present additional budgetary challenges for the state and reduce its ability to incentivize companies to relocate there.

Still, George said she was confident in future growth potential.

For the rest of the year and into 2025, George said she expects to see “significant growth” in the state from the artificial intelligence, quantum computing, deep technology and microelectronics sectors.

“The $500M investment that the state of Illinois made for quantum computing is spurring all sorts of momentum and interest from quantum companies as well as global technology companies in coming to Illinois,” George said. “People around the world are seeing this. They are seeing our momentum.”