Jan 6 (Reuters) – Anheuser-Busch InBev will invest $30 million in its U.S. brewery as part of its strategy to create and sustain manufacturing jobs in the country, the world’s top brewer said on Tuesday.
The company said the investment, under its ongoing “Brewing Futures” initiative, will support the Jacksonville, Florida brewery and can plant, spurring local economic growth and boosting production of its beer brand Michelob Ultra.
The latest “investment will expand the Jacksonville brewery’s capacity to produce fast-growing beers like Michelob Ultra, including upgrades to bottling lines and brewing tanks,” Anheuser-Busch’s U.S. CEO Brendan Whitworth said in a statement.
The move underscores the rapid growth of Michelob Ultra, now AB InBev’s most significant label in the hefty U.S. market after overtaking Bud Light, which lost its top spot as the country’s highest-selling beer following a consumer boycott that diminished its role in the company’s portfolio.
AB InBev CEO Michel Doukeris said in October Michelob Ultra, a light lager priced at $3.12 for a 25oz can in the U.S. on Walmart’s website, had become the industry leader by volume in the country so far in 2025.
The company’s latest investment builds on its more than $300 million spent on U.S. facilities last year. It has pumped in over $100 million in its Jacksonville facilities since 2021.
Separately on Tuesday, AB InBev, also the maker of Budweiser and Cutwater Spirits, said it would buy back a 49.9% stake in its U.S. metal container plants for about $3 billion, at a time of soaring aluminium costs due to tariffs.
Several global firms over the last year have ramped up investments in the U.S. to avoid tariffs and align with the Trump administration’s “Made in America” push.
(Reporting by Anuja Bharat Mistry in Bengaluru and Emma Rumney in London; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
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