Governor Braun's letter of intent with Eli Lilly to explore small modular reactors at the LEAP District in Boone County is the most consequential long-term energy story in Indiana nuclear energy manufacturing right now — and a $200 million life sciences expansion in Fishers is about to absorb nearly 1,000 skilled workers from the same labor pool your operation depends on. Three stories this week. All of them run back to the same two constraints: power supply and skilled workers.

Watch this episode of TEG Daily on YouTube: Indiana Nuclear Energy, Incog BioPharma Expansion, and AI Manufacturing.

Indiana Explores Small Modular Reactors for Industrial Base Load at the LEAP District

Governor Braun signed a non-binding letter of intent with Eli Lilly and Indiana's Office of Energy Development to evaluate deploying small modular nuclear reactors and other advanced nuclear technologies at the LEAP Research and Innovation District in Lebanon, Boone County — where Eli Lilly has announced more than $13 billion in investment across multiple drug manufacturing facilities. This is not a medical isotope play. The stated purpose is base load power for industrial, research, and community use.

The agreement puts Indiana's Office of Energy Development on point for policy, permitting, and grid siting coordination. Eli Lilly's role is to evaluate technologies, provide input on energy demand, and engage in long-term procurement discussions. Grid interconnection, infrastructure costs, scheduling, and project risks are all on the assessment list.

Indiana currently has no commercial nuclear plants, but this is not its first move in that direction. In November, the state partnered with reactor startup First American Nuclear, which plans to site its headquarters, manufacturing facilities, and a power plant in Indiana. On April 15th, First American Nuclear submitted its regulatory engagement plan for its Eagle One small fast spectrum reactor to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Watch for: updates from the Indiana Office of Energy Development on grid siting and interconnection assessments. Those documents will tell you how seriously this is moving and what the cost and timeline picture actually looks like.

Incog BioPharma's $200M Fishers Expansion Will Pull Nearly 1,000 Workers from Central Indiana's Labor Market by 2030

Incog BioPharma — a sterile injectables contract development and manufacturing organization — is investing approximately $200 million to expand its Fishers campus to roughly 300,000 square feet on a 21-acre site. Construction begins in early 2026. By 2030, the company expects to employ nearly 1,000 people there across operations, engineering, quality, and administration. This is Incog's third expansion at this location. Mayor Scott Fadness noted life sciences firms have now committed more than $1 billion in total investment to the city.

For any manufacturer competing for skilled workers in Hamilton County, those roles will hit the same labor pool your operation draws from — and they'll be recruiting aggressively through the end of this decade.

Watch for: Incog's hiring timeline and which roles they recruit for most aggressively through 2027. Those job categories will tell you exactly which skill sets are becoming most competitive in Hamilton County's labor market over the next four years.

Former Governor Holcomb: Power Supply and Skilled Workers Still Determine Who Wins

Former Governor Eric Holcomb published a piece in Time magazine in January 2026 arguing that AI will drive an American manufacturing renaissance. The two variables he says determine whether Indiana captures or misses that opportunity: the supply of skilled workers and electrical power — in that order. His framework cites a Deloitte projection of 3.8 million net new US manufacturing jobs by 2033 driven by AI, with data centers and associated information processing already accounting for 92% of US economic growth in the first half of 2025, per Harvard economist Jason Furman.

His workforce position: AI and digital skills training needs to begin at the secondary school level, with community colleges and vocational-technical schools as the backbone. His concern on power: whether Indiana's energy infrastructure investment keeps pace with the industrial load growth AI-driven manufacturing will place on the grid.

Watch for: state and federal workforce policy developments that create or close skill pipelines for Indiana manufacturers, and whether the state's energy infrastructure investment tracks the load growth that's coming.

Questions for Your Morning Huddle

Q: What is Indiana's small modular reactor letter of intent with Eli Lilly actually committing to? A: It's a non-binding agreement to evaluate the feasibility of deploying SMRs and other advanced nuclear technologies at the LEAP District in Lebanon — not a construction commitment. Indiana's Office of Energy Development is now assigned to coordinate grid siting and permitting work, and those assessments are the documents that will tell you whether this is moving and at what cost.

Q: How does Incog BioPharma's Fishers expansion affect Hamilton County manufacturers competing for skilled workers? A: Incog is building toward nearly 1,000 employees in operations, engineering, quality, and administration by 2030. If your facility depends on any of those skill sets in the Hamilton County labor market, you are competing directly — and your retention and compensation strategy should already account for that pressure through the end of the decade.

Q: What are the two variables former Governor Holcomb says will determine whether Indiana captures AI-driven manufacturing growth? A: Skilled workers and electrical power, in that order. Holcomb's argument is that future factories will be more specialized, not necessarily smaller in total employment, and the operators who build the workforce and power infrastructure to support that shift are the ones who will still be growing in 2033.

All three stories this week point to the same exposure: operators who are not actively managing their long-term energy procurement strategy and workforce pipeline are building risk into both their cost structure and their production capability for the rest of this decade.

For a deeper look at how to think about long-term energy procurement decisions, start with the TEG Energy Decision Blueprint. Watch this episode of TEG Daily on YouTube: Indiana Nuclear Energy, Incog BioPharma Expansion, and AI Manufacturing.

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