Cleanroom projects shift in momentum throughout the months and years. This can be based on demand for certain types of cleanrooms. It can be based on demand in certain locations. In 2025, the momentum hinged on US reshoring strategies, updated regulatory pressure, technological complexity, and geopolitical uncertainty.
This review looks at where the momentum is swinging based on the cleanroom projects that took place in 2025.
Some major projects hit their final goal, such as Sanofi and PM Group with their new biotech production unit, “Modulus” in France and Singapore, as well as Merit’s completion of the 800 sqm extension at the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre’s (UKBIC) Coventry facility. On the other hand, Micron Technology had to delay the opening of its new $100bn semiconductor fabrication plant in New York in November.
The technical complexity of evolving biopharma expectations
Biopharmaceutical innovation and production hotspots are starting to crop up across the globe. As the technologies become more developed and abundant, these projects will become more widespread. In 2025, Turner & Townsend and Hitachi Plant Services were awarded the contract to build Japan’s first cell therapy manufacturing facility for the biotech company Cellares. The new facility, dubbed Cellares Smart Factory – Asia, will be located in Kashiwa City.
Due to the evolving nature of this field, there is still a significant portion of the projects that focus on research and development space. UK cleanroom build expert C2C, Part of Angstrom Group, also carried out an ISO Class 7 cleanroom in the Netherlands for biopharma research and drug development. Further afield in Australia, the Translational Research Institute (TRI) collaborated with the Queensland Government on the $100m Translational Manufacturing Facility (TM@TRI). Set to open in early 2026, TM@TRI will be Australia’s first on-demand cGMP cleanroom facility, supporting high-potential biotech, pharmaceutical, and medtech companies. The organisations state that the aim is to offer a comprehensive environment for research and commercialisation. In this way, TM@TRI will help retain Australian biotech startups, reducing the need for them to go offshore.
The needs for biopharmaceutical cleanrooms can vary hugely. What is required for mRNA vaccines is entirely different to that which is needed for stem cell therapies. Stem cell therapies are a personalised medicine, and therefore have small batch and localised production.
Towards the end of the year, CAT Clean Air Technology finished a cleanroom requalification project for the Joint Stem Cell and Immune Laboratory at the University Hospital Tübingen. This facility provides stem cell products for cellular immunotherapy for the patients on site, but also for clinics around the world through cryopreservation of samples. The area to be requalified was only about 30 sqm of Grade A, B and C, but it took about two to three days to requalify. CAT explained in a LinkedIn post: “This is due to the scope of the individual parameters that have to be measured in such a sensitive area – including filter leakage and tightness tests, recovery time, air volume flow, differential pressure, air purity class as well as microbiological measurements and investigations.”
More established biotechnologies, such as vaccines and antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), are produced at much larger scales. For example, IPS and Meyer completed the $800m build of BeiGene’s flagship facility at the start of the year. This oncology-focused build manufactures biologics, small molecules, and ADCs. This was one of the largest biopharmaceutical investments in the US in 2025, and contained 40,000 sqft of manufacturing and R&D space. In the UK, Moderna revised its regulatory approval to begin operations at its new mRNA vaccine production space.
The space also has companies producing component ingredients that are needed within the process, such as AB Biotechnology. Yet another different type of facility is required for this, and build specialist Clean Construction helped with a cleanroom rebuild, with help from Clinical Technologies, a UK-based cleanroom installation company, which fitted the panels. Interestingly, due to the region, the company also made the facility design adhere to Midlothian Council’s Green Pledge. By signing the pledge, businesses demonstrate their dedication to reducing their carbon footprint and adopting eco-friendly practices.
Cleanroom construction firms, including companies like Integrated Cleanroom Technologies and Wiskind Cleanroom, have also reported contract wins for animal vaccine facility projects, another significant portion of this sector that can not be overlooked.
Outside of the biopharma craze
Adjacent to the biopharma space is the more general pharmaceutical market. Although there is a huge amount of investment in biopharmaceutical spaces in 2025, the pharmaceutical space should not be overlooked for its vast project base. CCG, MRC, BES and Telstar all received large wins in this space, with major projects. Cleanroom Combination Group’s (CCG) win was with GE HealthCare in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The agreement will see CCG enhance the pharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities at the site, specifically for some radiopharmaceuticals.
Eindhoven is a well-established production hub in the Netherlands, but locations around the world are trying to localise essential operations, most likely spurred on by the harsh lesson that was the COVID-19 pandemic. For instance, Sri Lanka established its first ISO Class 7 government cleanroom in May. Hemsons International and India-based Fabtech Technologies both contributed to the project, which represents a major advancement for Sri Lanka’s public healthcare infrastructure, providing a controlled, high-grade environment.
In a slightly out-of-the-box application, Eli Lilly has teamed up with NVIDIA to create an AI supercomputer to transform drug delivery and manufacturing. For cleanroom and controlled-environment operations, the system would enable integration of digital twins, AI-driven imaging and data-driven process optimisation directly into facility and production management. Excitingly, real-time monitoring and predictive modelling could improve quality control and operational efficiency within the entire sector.
More established biotechnologies, such as vaccines and antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), are produced at large scales
Semiconductors, photonics, satellites, batteries and more
There is a litany of production facilities that come under the scope of a “high-tech” project. The applications that require a cleanroom can include the production of semiconductors and photonics, as well as batteries, satellites, and telecommunication equipment.
Companies that won semiconductor contracts in 2025 included BAM, ProCleanroom, Stantec and Airkey. Often, these projects will have some version of public funding. For instance, the Netherlands-based High Tech Campus Eindhoven photonics chip pilot plant being built by BAM, with help from its cleanroom specialist subsidiary Interflow, was funded through the EU Chips Act, PhotonDelta, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Defence, and TNO, and forms part of the European PIXEurope initiative. Whereas in Italy, Silicon Box is receiving €1.3bn in funding for its new manufacturing facility in northern Italy. The multi-year investment will replicate Silicon Box’s flagship foundry in Singapore, and will be built by Stantec, using Germany-based CRC (Clean Room Consulting) for cleanroom design and sustainable solutions. CRC has been part of a fair few semiconductor projects at this point, working on projects for Jenoptik and Vishay in the last couple of years.
On the more end-stage level, electronics firms often require cleanrooms of varying levels. These cleanrooms require careful maintenance to keep the product yields high, as this will be the manufacturer’s metric of success. Air quality is directly linked to product yield, so this means regular contracts, such as Amorair’s recent high-efficiency filter installation for LG, are important to perform well.
Another end-stage application is quantum computing. T-Squared was assigned to the £1.2 QuEra Computing facility at Harwell Campus. This required an ISO rated cleanroom with +/-1°C temperature control and took 6 months to create. With increasing applications for quantum computing, these projects are sure to increase.
Looking at the battery production projects in 2025, this year saw
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