AI automation across Indiana.

Indiana is the most manufacturing-driven economy in the United States. Its nominal GDP is roughly $519.5 billion, and manufacturing accounts for about 27% of that, the highest manufacturing share of any state, contributing some $138.7 billion in value added in 2023 and standing as the single largest sector of the state economy. On a population of about 6.92 million, which grew by 44,144 in 2024 in its biggest jump since 2008, Indiana carries one of the densest concentrations of factory floors, distribution centres, and engineering operations in the country.

Indiana is not one industry but several heavy ones. The automotive subsector alone employs more than 136,000 workers and adds about $21.4 billion to GDP, with Toyota in Princeton, Subaru in Lafayette, GM in Fort Wayne, Stellantis in Kokomo, and Honda in Greensburg. The Calumet region around Gary has been the country's top steel producer since 1975, making roughly 27% of all US steel through ArcelorMittal and U.S. Steel. Warsaw is the "Orthopedic Capital of the World," home to Zimmer Biomet and DePuy Synthes, and Elkhart builds more recreational vehicles than the rest of the nation combined.

Every one of these sectors burns thousands of staff hours on routine work that AI now handles: supplier, quality, and traceability paperwork across the auto and RV plants; mill scheduling and certificate-of-analysis handling in steel; device-history records and complaint intake in orthopaedics; freight and customs documentation through the FedEx national hub; claims and KYC across Elevance Health and the insurers; and patient-access and recall outreach across Lilly's affiliates and the hospital systems. The firms automating these workflows are pulling ahead of peers still routing everything by hand.

Indiana is also building the talent and capital to support it. Purdue, Indiana University, and Notre Dame have formed the Indiana Research Consortium with NSWC Crane for trusted-AI and microelectronics research; Notre Dame launched its Data, AI, and Computing Initiative in 2025; and SK hynix is investing about $3.87 billion in a Purdue-area plant to mass-produce the high-bandwidth memory chips that train AI systems, with Eli Lilly committing billions more to the LEAP district nearby. We start with one high-leverage workflow, prove the ROI in weeks, and scale from there, with delivery on Eastern Time.

Indiana also now has a comprehensive privacy regime. The Indiana Consumer Data Protection Act (Senate Bill 5), signed in 2023, took effect on 1 January 2026 and is enforced by the Indiana Attorney General with civil penalties up to $7,500 per violation. For a manufacturing, pharma, and logistics economy, that sits alongside the federal regimes that genuinely apply: HIPAA for health data, GLBA for financial institutions, SOX for the many Indiana-headquartered public companies, and FDA 21 CFR Part 11 for drug and device makers. We design to those from day one.