Alphabet’s Wing to Build New Texas Factory for Delivery Drones

Alphabet-owned Wing announced Friday it is establishing a 15,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Fort Worth, Texas, capable of producing tens of thousands of delivery drones annually, according to Axios. The company plans to invest up to $125 million in direct manufacturing over the next two years, creating as many as 100 jobs. The expansion will support Wing's ambition to reach more than 40 million Americans across nearly 20 U.S. markets by 2027.

"Drone delivery has become a global reality, driven by clear demand from our partners and their customers," Wing CEO Adam Woodworth said in the announcement. Wing, which began in 2012 as an experimental project at Google's moonshot laboratory, says it has completed more than 1 million U.S. home deliveries this year alone and now operates from more than 70 sites serving major metropolitan areas.

Wing's largest commercial partner is Walmart, which plans to offer its drone delivery service from more than 270 stores nationwide by 2027. The manufacturing commitment signals a turning point for an industry that has spent years testing whether flying packages directly to consumers' homes can become a viable business. Rival Zipline, for example, raised $1.5 billion last week to accelerate its expansion while announcing a deal to add 300 Walmart drone delivery sites nationwide.