— Arizona’s manufacturing story is often told through semiconductors, electric vehicles, and the industrial growth of metro Phoenix. But it may come as a surprise to many that the state’s largest manufacturer is actually in Tucson. The latest Phoenix Business Journal ranking is a reminder that Southern Arizona still holds one of the most important positions in Arizona’s industrial economy and that its influence remains closely tied to a single company.
At the top of the 2026 list is Raytheon’s Tucson operation, ranked as the largest manufacturer in Arizona by employee count. With 15,000 employees in Arizona, Raytheon led the statewide list ahead of Intel in Chandler, which reported 9,600 employees. The ranking is significant not only because of Raytheon’s size, but because it reinforces Tucson’s role as home to one of Arizona’s most consequential industrial operations.
For Southern Arizona, the ranking is more than a point of civic pride. It highlights the way Tucson’s manufacturing identity is concentrated in a single, highly specialized employer whose reach extends far beyond its campus. While metro Phoenix dominates much of the current conversation around industrial growth, advanced manufacturing investment, and supply chain expansion, Tucson continues to anchor one of the state’s deepest concentrations of aerospace and defense production…