business
JPMorgan Chase Provides $24 Million for Submarine Facility at Philadelphia Navy Yard
The investment will fund a new manufacturing site expected to create 450 jobs and expand training programs. It comes amid broader efforts by companies to address shortages in skilled trades for shipbuilding and other sectors.
Jul 16, 7:00 PM·2m read4 sources
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JPMorgan Chase announced a $24 million investment through loans and philanthropic grants to support a new submarine manufacturing and assembly facility at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. The project is expected to create 450 permanent jobs while expanding workforce training and apprenticeship programs for thousands of welders, electricians, pipefitters and other trades workers.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon spoke from the Philadelphia Navy Yard on Tuesday.
He said the U.S. needs 300,000 electricians, welders and similar workers to build ships over the next five or ten years. The yard currently employs about 16,000 workers, and Dimon stated its workforce could double over the next five years.
Pennsylvania Sen. David McCormick said demand for skilled trades has never been stronger. The Philadelphia Navy Yard was purchased by Hanwha, a South Korean ship manufacturer, in 2024 for $100 million.
The yard delivers one to one-and-a-half ships per year, while Hanwha Philly Shipyard CEO David Kim noted that Hanwha’s facilities in South Korea deliver one ship a week. The yard’s apprenticeship program accommodates about 20 trainees at a time, compared with roughly 400 simultaneously at Hanwha’s South Korean sites.
In the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, an estimated shortage of 10,000 shipyard workers is projected to reach 40,000 by 2030.
Huntington Ingalls Industries invests over $110 million annually in workforce development. Its CEO Chris Kastner said during the company’s 2026 Q1 earnings call in May that the firm hired over 1,600 shipbuilders in the first quarter and graduated nearly 200 apprentices in 2026. Lowe’s announced a $250 million commitment to train 250,000 skilled trade workers over the next decade.
BlackRock committed $100 million to train 50,000 workers over five years. Meta launched a $115 million program called America’s Workforce Academy in June to train data center technicians, offering a guaranteed job at one of its sites after a five-week course.
