Merck’s $895M expansion is latest in wave of western Johnson County developments
Another history-making investment is landing in De Soto.
Gov. Laura Kelly and Merck Animal Health — a veterinary medicine company — announced an $895 million expansion project at the company’s manufacturing facility in the western Johnson County city, making it the second largest private investment in Kansas history.
Merck’s Site preparation and facility design will start immediately and create 2,500 construction jobs and eventually create more than 200 full-time jobs once operational.
“This investment in our site is designed to increase Merck Animal Health’s ability to meet the growing customer demand for its portfolio of animal biologics products and ensure the company remains at the forefront of innovation in the animal health sector,” Merck Animal Health President Richard DeLuca said in a joint statement from the company and Kelly’s office. “This initiative also reflects our dedication to advancing animal health and our ongoing investment in the communities where we operate.”
Around $860 million will go to the site’s existing 200,000 square foot manufacturing facility to expand filling and freeze dryer capacity for large molecule vaccines and biologic products for the company. The remaining $35 million will be allocated to enhance its research capabilities.
Merck has operated in De Soto for more than 20 years and is “an important part of our community’s history,” Mayor Rick Walker said in an emailed statement to The Star.
The De Soto facility is in “the heart of Kansas’ animal health corridor,” according to Merck. It employs about 300 people and produces more than 400 products that are distributed to 35 countries. The corridor is home to more than 300 animal health companies — the largest concentration in the world.
“The expansion will continue to highlight De Soto as the type of community where businesses can not only put down roots – but thrive,” Walker said in the statement. “We’re looking forward to sharing a vibrant future with them.”
Historic investments
Johnson County cities have seen several multi-million-dollar investments recently.
“Public-private partnerships that lead to major global projects, such as those with Merck, Fiserv and Panasonic — just to name a few recent successes — are occurring because people believe in Kansas,” Kelly said in the statement.
Last month, Kelly announced that financial services technology company Fiserv committed $175 million in private investment to launch a new financial tech hub in Overland Park’s Aspiria Campus, formerly Sprint. The Fortune 500 company promises to bring 2,000 high-paying jobs with an average salary of $102,000, and expects to open its doors in two phases beginning in 2026.
Like the Panasonic Plant, the plan brewed under wraps and resulted in a deal state officials described as the “largest office recruitment in Kansas history.”
The $4 billion electric vehicle battery plant —which is the private largest investment in state history — is also in De Soto. Once completed, the five million square foot facility will be the largest battery factory in the world and expected to employ about 4,000 employees.
As of May 8, more than 660 people have been hired with plans to hire 1,000 workers by the summer, a Panasonic spokesperson in an emailed statement. Wing 1 construction is complete and Wing 2 is expected to be complete by 2026. The spokesperson added that Panasonic couldn’t share official start dates yet for its full operations.
For Merck’s facility, the company expects commercial manufacturing to begin in 2030.
This story was originally published May 8, 2025 at 1:22 PM.
