Arizona is still on a roll. The state has picked up its sixth straight Gold Shovel Award from Area Development magazine, a signal that big, job-creating projects are not just landing here but starting to take shape on the ground. The honor comes as marquee investments like Amkor’s advanced packaging campus in Peoria and Axon’s planned Scottsdale headquarters shift from glossy announcement to the less glamorous world of construction timelines and permitting paperwork.
Area Development gave Arizona the Gold Shovel in the 5 to 8 million population category, a win the state quickly highlighted in a press release. According to the Arizona Commerce Authority, this is the sixth consecutive year Arizona has earned a Gold Shovel, underscoring the state’s knack for reeling in high-value projects.
Amkor’s Peoria investment
On the industrial side, Amkor broke ground in October 2025 on a multi-phase advanced packaging and test campus in Peoria and has since expanded the project to roughly $7 billion across two phases. As laid out in the company’s press release, the campus is slated to include more than 750,000 square feet of cleanroom space, target production in early 2028 and could support as many as 3,000 high-quality jobs, according to Amkor Technology.
Axon’s Scottsdale campus
On the corporate side, Axon’s planned global headquarters in Scottsdale carries an estimated price tag of about $1.3 billion and is projected to support up to 5,500 high-wage jobs. The development is also expected to generate roughly $3.5 billion in annual regional activity, with a decade-long economic impact estimated between $38 billion and $40 billion. Those figures were spotlighted by the region’s economic development group in its response to the award, per the Greater Phoenix Economic Council.
Why the award matters
Area Development’s Shovel Awards weigh job creation per capita, overall capital investment and the diversity of industries behind those numbers. This year, the outlet recognized 20 manufacturing projects and 15 non-manufacturing projects across the country. The magazine’s Q2 2026 Shovel report, which puts Amkor and Axon on its Projects of the Year list, lays out how a mix of semiconductor manufacturing, advanced packaging and corporate headquarters investments helped lift Arizona to the top of its population category, according to Area Development.
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