U.S. Steelmakers Set to Add, Improve Capacity in Third Quarter

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Written by Will Ploch, Assistant Editor-in-Chief for IIR News Intelligence (Sugar Land, Texas)

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Summary

Domestic steel production likely will grow for a fifth consecutive year in 2026, with many foreign-owned companies joining U.S.-based steelmakers to build out or optimize capacity.

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Attracting Investment from Abroad

Steel demand is growing worldwide, and the U.S. steel-manufacturing sector is preparing for several project starts in the coming quarter that reflect both sustained market trends and the effects of the Trump administration's tariffs on steel imports. Domestic steel production grew for a fourth consecutive year in 2025, and this year is not expected to break the pace, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.

Industrial Info Resources is tracking nearly $7 billion worth of U.S.-based steel-manufacturing projects slated to begin construction in the third quarter; revamps account for half of the project count, but grassroot projects make up a clear majority of proposed investment.

According to Industrial Info Resources data, a significant share of the total spending is attributed to Hyundai Steel Company Limited's Donaldsonville Steel Mill in Modeste, Louisiana. The facility is designed to use direct-reduction and electric-arc furnace technologies, which emit lower levels of carbon than traditional blast-furnace technology, to produce 2.8 million tons per year of steel sheet for the South Korean company's automotive assembly lines across the U.S. South.

Industrial Info Resources offers more information on the Donaldsonville development, currently set to be brought online in early 2029, in its Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Metals & Minerals Plant and Project databases, where readers can find details--including construction schedules, investment values and necessary equipment--in a plant profile and project report.

Hyundai is one of several foreign-owned entities developing steel projects in the U.S., joining South Korea's POSCO and Japan's Nippon Steel, the latter of which acquired United States Steel Corporation (U.S. Steel) in a landmark deal last year. Joseph Govreau, vice president of research for the Global Metals & Minerals Industry for Industrial Info Resources, recently saw these trends play out at a leading industry tradeshow and technical conference; for more information, see May 11, 2026, article - AISTech 2026: U.S. Steel Industry Healthy Riding $50 Billion Capital Spending Wave.

U.S. Steel, for its part, is readying to build a slag-recycling plant at its Edgar Thomson Steel Works plant in Braddock, Pennsylvania, and is preparing for a series of upgrades to its Steel Works plant in Gary, Indiana. Both projects aim to boost efficiency at these facilities by repurposing byproducts of the steelmaking process and optimizing the hot strip mill, respectively. Readers can learn more from detailed reports on the Edgar Thomson and Gary projects.

By the Numbers

• Nearly $7 billion: Total value of U.S.-based steel-manufacturing projects slated to begin construction in the third quarter
• 2.8 million tons per year: Total steel sheet set to be produced at Hyundai's Donaldsonville Steel Mill in Louisiana

Sprucing Up Domestic Capacity

Steel-manufacturing facilities owned by U.S.-based companies also are set for improvements. Cleveland-Cliffs Incorporated is preparing for upgrades to coke battery at its Steel Works plant in Burns Harbor, Indiana. The unit converts raw metallurgical coal into 1.75 million tons per year of coke, which fuels the blast furnace that melts materials into 5 million tons per year of steel. The company performs such operations every three to five years. Readers can learn more from a plant profile and a detailed project report.

The coke battery overhaul is part of a broader effort by Cleveland-Cliffs to improve efficiency at the Burns Harbor plant, according to Lorenzo Goncalves, the chief executive officer, who detailed plans in the company's most recent earnings-related conference call: "At Burns Harbor, we are idling our smaller plate mill, as we have successfully been able to consolidate all capabilities of the 110-inch [steel-roller width] mill into the 160-inch mill. This removes an inefficient line, improves utilization at the efficient 160-inch mill, and strengthens our cost performance without sacrificing any capability."

Smaller players, including some innovative startups, also are planning capacity additions. Molten Industries Incorporated, a "clean-tech" developer that started in 2021, plans to build a pilot plant for direct-reduced iron at its facility in Oakland, California, where the company uses methane cracking to split natural gas into clean hydrogen and high-purity graphite. Molten hopes to demonstrate that its technology can remove a substantial amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the steelmaking process. Readers can consult a plant profile and a detailed project report.

The Industrial Info Resources GMI Project and Plant databases offer a full list of detailed reports for projects mentioned in this article, and a full list of related plant profiles.

Industrial Info Resources also offers a full list of reports for U.S.-based steel-manufacturing projects slated to begin construction in the third quarter.

Key Takeaways

• U.S.-based steel production likely will grow for a fifth consecutive year in 2026.
• Foreign-owned companies are taking a stronger interest in developing steel projects in the U.S.
• Smaller players, including some innovative startups, also are planning capacity additions.

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About Industrial Info Resources
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news, and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing, and energy-related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified, and verified plant and project opportunities. Across the world, Industrial Info Resources is tracking over 250,000 current and future projects worth $30.2 trillion (USD).