Europe's U.S. expansion playbook is shifting from selling to making

There is a more interesting story developing than simply European companies expanding in America. Across industries, a recognizable second stage of U.S. expansion is emerging: companies enter the market through sales, customers or a relatively small local operation, prove demand, and then start moving production onto American soil.

Recent moves by Abingdon Health, OpenWorks Engineering, Pirelli, United Petfood and Power Electronics illustrate different versions of that progression. They operate in diagnostics, defense, automotive, pet food and energy technology, but their expansion paths point in a similar direction: getting closer to U.S. customers increasingly means making more of the product in the United States.

The new playbook: sell first, manufacture second

For many European companies, entering America once meant opening a sales office and shipping products across the Atlantic. That model is not disappearing. But several recent expansions suggest that successful U.S. market entry can increasingly become a sequence: establish customers, build a local commercial organization, add technical capabilities and eventually localize manufacturing.

The reasons differ by industry. Customers may want products made domestically. Government contracts and grant programs can favor local capabilities. Manufacturers can reduce supply-chain complexity by producing closer to customers. And once U.S. revenue becomes strategically important enough, operating an American production base can become easier to justify.

Abingdon Health: the clearest example

British diagnostics company Abingdon Health offers perhaps the clearest progression. In 2024, it announced a commercial office and laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin. At the time, the company said potential U.S. customers had requested that services be delivered or supported from within the United States, partly because of onshoring requirements and conditions attached to U.S. tenders and grant funding.

That initial foothold has now evolved into manufacturing. On September 24, 2026, Abingdon officially opened a manufacturing hub at its Madison facility, allowing it to provide U.S. customers with a more complete locally delivered development and manufacturing service.

The sequence matters: U.S. customers came first, local laboratory and commercial capabilities followed, and American manufacturing became the next step.

OpenWorks: customers, headquarters, then Detroit

British counter-drone company OpenWorks Engineering is moving along a similar path. It has served the American market for years and developed relationships with U.S. defense and security companies. With product adoption accelerating, OpenWorks has now opened a regional headquarters in Ashburn, Virginia.

The next step is physical production. OpenWorks plans to establish a manufacturing facility in Detroit before the end of 2026. Rather than entering America with a factory from day one, the company built commercial traction first and is adding domestic production as its U.S. business matures.

Pirelli: from local factory to much bigger local factory

For Pirelli, the story is further along. The Italian tire manufacturer has operated in Rome, Georgia since 2002 and already manufactures advanced products there. Now it is dramatically increasing the scale of that operation.

Pirelli approved an approximately €1 billion, or roughly $1.2 billion, multi-year investment that will expand annual production capacity at Rome to approximately 6 million car tires by 2033 and is expected to create around 1,000 jobs.

Pirelli explicitly describes the project as part of its 'local-for-local' strategy. The United States is the world's largest market for the high-value tire segment targeted by the investment, and the company wants more of the products sold there to be manufactured there too.

United Petfood: one American factory becomes two

Belgium's United Petfood entered U.S. manufacturing in 2024 by acquiring a production facility in Mishawaka, Indiana. At the time, the company explicitly linked the acquisition to serving American customers with locally produced pet food.

Two years later, it is doubling down. United Petfood has agreed to acquire another dry pet food production facility in Decatur, Arkansas. The Arkansas operation will become its second U.S. production site and third in North America when its Canadian facility is included.

This is another stage of the same pattern. Once local production proves strategically useful, the question can shift from whether to manufacture in America to how much manufacturing capacity is needed.

Power Electronics: U.S. demand turns into industrial scale

Spanish energy technology company Power Electronics has spent more than a decade building its U.S. business and says it now has more than 116 GW installed in the country. It is taking the next step with a 53-acre manufacturing campus in Houston.

The project will include approximately 850,000 square feet across two buildings and combine production, electronics manufacturing, logistics, R&D, training and corporate functions. Once fully operational, Power Electronics expects the campus to provide up to 40 GW of annual production capacity and support more than 400 jobs.

America is becoming more than a sales market

Five companies do not establish a universal rule, and European businesses will continue to enter the United States in very different ways. But these cases reveal a useful pattern for companies considering the market.

The U.S. expansion decision is increasingly not just about finding American customers. For companies that gain enough traction, the strategic question becomes whether they also need American operations, American employees and ultimately American production.

That changes what 'scaling in America' can mean. The first milestone may still be a customer, distributor or sales office. The more consequential milestone comes later: when America becomes important enough that a European company decides it needs to build there too.