This article originally appeared in El Nuevo Día.
By: Sebastián Negrón Reichard
In recent weeks some have debated, without reliable data, narratives that question Puerto Rico’s leadership in the advanced manufacturing spectrum in the face of the Dominican Republic’s positioning efforts.
The facts, however, indicate that Eli Lilly announced an investment of over $1 billion on the island (equivalent to 1% of the local Gross Domestic Product) just one month after Amgen confirmed another investment of $650 million. In the past 10 months, more than $2 billion in new industrial investments have been announced, including those from Terumo, ABB, Stryker, and Integra Life Sciences.
This is not a coincidence, but an irrefutable verdict from the industry.
The world’s most sophisticated companies have decided that the future of American manufacturing is built from these coordinates. Puerto Rico is back.
The heavyweights of the biosciences industry are betting on a reliable jurisdiction and a mature ecosystem. Advanced manufacturing continues to find in Puerto Rico the ideal balance between cost, quality, and certainty.
These are not low-value assembly operations, but high-tech facilities that produce medical devices, aerospace components, and advanced industrial equipment. It is, at the very least, misguided to suggest that Puerto Rico is falling behind in areas where it has actually been a leader for three-quarters of a century and where it continues to grow and evolve rapidly.
In 2024, our manufacturing exports reached $60.29 billion, of which $49.682 billion corresponded to the categories of pharmaceutical products and medical devices.
While the Dominican Republic’s figures reached $12.923 billion, only $2.618 billion corresponds to these sectors. None of this was built overnight, nor was it based on cheap labor. This is not an anecdote, but a clear sign of a mature cluster, compliant with U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards, and a skilled supply chain built on technical excellence, regulatory expertise, and a workforce that has been mastering complex manufacturing for over seven decades.
This explains why 50% of our college graduates come from STEM disciplines (the acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), why we manufacture five of the world’s 20 best-selling drugs, and why we are consistently among the top exporters of pharmaceutical products in the United States.
Synonym for stability
The reality is that the current scenario and circumstances present an opportunity to leverage a strategic proposal that not only consolidates but also propels Puerto Rico in relation to its competitors, making it an indispensable piece on the board of the most sophisticated production.
First, the geopolitical dynamics changed. Supply chains that extend across unstable regions are now perceived as national security vulnerabilities, and Caribbean stability matters.
Furthermore, with the tariff adjustments , producing in the United States is once again economically viable.
Reshoring is no longer optional, and our industrial experience makes us the ideal location within the United States.
Critical role in the US network
Second, we have gained some strengths from the crisis. With nearly 80% of public debt negotiated and restructured, we emerged from bankruptcy with a clean balance sheet and renewed fiscal discipline. This creates better conditions for investing in infrastructure, talent development, and incentives.
Third, our innovation ecosystem is strengthening. Through the Puerto Rico Venture Capital Access Program (VCAP), startups in biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, aerospace, and advanced manufacturing are receiving $30 million in federal funding. This is complemented by a mature entrepreneurial environment, comprised of, among others, Parallel18, Grupo Guayacán, the Bravo Family Foundation’s Rising Entrepreneurs Program, Endeavor Puerto Rico, and the Forward787 operation, Red Ventures. This combination has created the conditions to attract young professionals back to the island.
Fourth, we have a critical role in the U.S. supply chain. From pharmaceuticals and medical devices to aerospace components, products manufactured in Puerto Rico supply hospitals, defense systems, and laboratories in all 50 states.
This is the decade to define not who we are, but what we can become within the framework of the global economy. And we will do so not from a perspective of nostalgia for what once was, but from the aspiration of what we are destined to be. It is about building something better than what we have had and what our competitors are only just beginning to develop.