Skydio commits $3.5 billion to expand U.S. drone manufacturing
Skydio plans to spend $3.5 billion over five years to expand drone manufacturing and speed research and development in the United States. The Silicon Valley company said the effort will include a fifth facility that is five times larger than its current manufacturing space in California, a move aimed at meeting what it described as extraordinary demand from public safety, defense, critical infrastructure and site security customers.
The expansion is expected to create more than 2,000 jobs at Skydio and support another 3,000 positions across its U.S. supply chain. The company is also launching a program called Skyforge to ensure its drones are built domestically. Skydio said it will invest in suppliers to expand, and in some cases start, U.S. manufacturing of critical parts and components. It also plans to invite selected suppliers to co-locate production capacity with the company and give them access to manufacturing space and engineering support.
The announcement came one day after Skydio raised $110 million in a Series F funding round. The company said the financing will help accelerate production scaling as demand rises. The round valued Skydio at $4.4 billion. The company said its capital needs are falling as its core business generates hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue, supported by strong unit economics and rapid growth.
Founded in 2014 in San Mateo, California, Skydio now operates four manufacturing facilities in Hayward, California, but said it has outgrown them over the past eight years. The company said it has shipped more than 60,000 flying robots to over 3,800 customers in the United States and abroad. Its customer base includes public safety agencies, the U.S. military, the militaries of 29 allied nations, and more than 450 utility and energy companies. The manufacturing push also comes after years of pressure from China, which placed Skydio on restricted or prohibited lists covering trade and investment. In 2024, sanctions tied to Taiwan forced the company to limit customers to one battery per drone. The new U.S. investment underscores a broader shift toward domestic production as drone makers seek scale, resilience and tighter control over strategic supply chains.