Analysts are watching for possible impacts on large planned computer chip manufacturing facilities nationwide, as memory chip makers deal with falling consumer and client demand.

Media outlets including Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal this week reported that some memory chip makers are already reducing jobs and facility investments as their clients reduce orders in the face of declining sales of personal computers and mobile devices.

Citing analyst estimates, Bloomberg reported that losses by the largest memory chip makers, including Micron Technology, SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, are on track collectively to reach a record $5 billion this year at the rate unsold inventories are currently piling up. The Wall Street Journal said average prices for the two main types of memory chips used commonly in electronics are projected to decline by double-digit percentages in the current quarter.

Several tech companies that make computer components, electric vehicles and EV batteries have announced large manufacturing plants nationwide, fueled in part by new federal infrastructure funding programs designed to encourage domestic production. Overseas logjams in supply chains caused production disruptions for automakers and other tech-dependent industries in the first year of the pandemic, though some of those disruptions have since eased.

Micron, for instance, in the past year announced plans to build memory chip manufacturing plants valued at more than $100 billion over the next 20 years in locations including Clay, New York, and its headquarters city of Boise, Idaho. Intel has plans in the works for large new semiconductor facilities in Ohio and Arizona.

While keeping long-range development plans intact for now, Micron has made short-term moves to address the current economic challenges. The company, which employs about 48,000 globally, said in late December it would be reducing its workforce by 10% during 2023, suspending corporate bonuses among other cost cuts, and making unspecified investment reductions involving manufacturing capacity.

In a potential sign of supply chain recovery from pandemic disruptions, railroad operator Norfolk Southern Corp. said it partnered with customers on industrial development projects valued at $3.2 billion during 2022.

Some of these projects stem from corporate efforts to streamline domestic logistics operations that were frequently disrupted in the early months of the pandemic by manufacturing and transportation bottlenecks originating largely in China and other Asian regions. A company statement said Norfolk Southern is tapping into moves by U.S. companies now “on-shoring” or “re-shoring” operations that formerly depended on overseas material and service providers, and also responding to growing domestic demand for e-commerce and electric vehicle production

Officials of Atlanta-based Norfolk Southern, among the nation’s largest cargo rail carriers, said the company in 2022 invested in 159 industrial projects underway in partnerships with 120 client companies, projected to employ nearly 4,000 at completion.

Those include a $450 million rebar steel mill being built by Commercial Metals Co. in Berkeley County, West Virginia; a $440 million corrugated packaging facility being developed by Packaging Corp. of America in Jackson, Alabama; and a $400 million brewery and production facility of Mark Anthony Brewing in Richland, South Carolina.

Norfolk Southern said the company has a “strong project pipeline of customer initiatives in 2023 and beyond.” These projects involve 33 companies that have announced plans for new or expanded production facilities along Norfolk Southern’s rail network, expected to total $30 billion in investments.

Growth in Texas factory activity slowed from the prior month in the latest January survey of business conditions by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. The survey of company executives showed production was essentially flat this month from December levels in most industries as customer orders declined and material costs remained high, the regional Fed said Monday.

“Perceptions of broader business conditions continued to worsen in January, though pessimism waned,” Dallas Fed researchers said in a statement. The Fed’s general Texas business activity index, based on subtracting the percentage of negative responses from the percentage of positive ones, rose 12 points but was still at -8.4 for the month of January.

There was optimism in the numbers, as Fed manufacturing labor measures “pointed to stronger employment growth and longer workweeks,” with nearly one-third of companies reporting net positive hiring over the past month and just 13% noting net layoffs. The manufacturing employment index climbed 4 points to 17.6 for January, well above the regional Fed’s historic average of 9.0, as respondents expected production output to grow over the next six months.

According to industrial data firm MNI, Texas as of mid-2022 was the nation’s second-largest state for manufacturing companies after California. Data showed the Lone Star State had more than 20,000 manufacturers employing approximately 1.3 million workers, with a large presence in industries including defense, industrial machinery, electronics technology and food processing.