Baja California targets US$1.29 billion investment for 2026. By José Escobedo | Senior Editorial Manager - Wed, 07/08/2026 - 17:06 DIA assistant Summary: Baja California is advancing a US$1.288 billion private investment pipeline for 2026 across advanced manufacturing, medical devices, aerospace, electromobility and business services, reinforcing its position as one of Mexico's leading export manufacturing hubs. The projects highlight continued nearshoring momentum, a diversified international investor base and the state's integration into North American supply chains, while supporting formal job creation despite global trade uncertainty and operational adjustments within the IMMEX manufacturing sector. Baja California is positioning itself to attract US$1.288 billion in private investment during 2026, with a pipeline of 16 projects expected to generate more than 15,000 direct jobs as the state strengthens its role as one of Mexico's leading manufacturing and export hubs. According to Baja California's Ministry of Economy and Innovation (SEI), the investment portfolio spans projects in Tijuana, Mexicali and Tecate across strategic industries including medical devices, machinery and equipment, electronics, electromobility, precision manufacturing, aerospace and business services. The investment outlook comes as Baja California continues to benefit from nearshoring trends and sustained demand for export-oriented manufacturing, supported by its proximity to the United States, established industrial infrastructure and participation in North American supply chains. "Baja California maintains a strong investment pipeline for 2026, with 16 projects in Tijuana, Mexicali and Tecate at different stages of development, planning, expansion and scope definition, confirming the state's attractiveness for domestic and international investors," said Kurt Honold Morales, Baja California Minister of Economy and Innovation. The projects collectively are expected to create approximately 15,170 direct jobs, reinforcing Baja California's position among Mexico's most active destinations for manufacturing investment. Although global trade conditions remain uncertain, state officials said Baja California continues to leverage its competitive advantages, including specialized talent, advanced manufacturing capabilities, export capacity and strategic access to North American and Asian markets. Advanced Manufacturing Anchors Investment Pipeline The composition of the investment portfolio reflects continued confidence in Baja California's advanced manufacturing ecosystem, particularly in sectors requiring specialized engineering capabilities and high-value production. Medical devices represent one of the largest segments of planned investment. US-based Intuitive plans to invest US$165 million in Mexicali, creating 1,500 direct jobs. The project is among the largest announced for the sector and further strengthens Mexicali's position as a medical technology manufacturing center. Additional medical investments include US company SprintRay, which plans to invest US$4 million and generate 70 jobs, while Iceland-based Össur will invest US$4 million in Tijuana, creating 25 positions focused on medical and mobility solutions. The concentration of projects in medical technology reflects Baja California's established supply chain and growing specialization in high-value healthcare manufacturing for international markets. The state's industrial diversification also continues through investments tied to electric vehicle supply chains and aerospace manufacturing. South Korea's Dongwon announced an US$80 million investment in Mexicali that will create 170 jobs while supporting production linked to electric vehicles, batteries and mobility technologies. In precision manufacturing and fabricated metal products, LT Precision Mexicali plans to invest US$88 million and create 150 jobs. Ireland-based Schivo will contribute an additional US$10 million investment, generating 200 positions. Meanwhile, Baja California continues expanding its aerospace footprint through new international projects. UK manufacturer Doncasters plans to invest US$15 million in Mexicali, creating 90 jobs, while Belgium's Sonaca will invest an additional US$15 million and generate 80 positions. Together, these projects further strengthen Baja California's position as one of Mexico's principal aerospace manufacturing clusters. New Projects Complement Industrial Expansion Alongside major manufacturing investments, additional projects are expected to expand the state's industrial and business infrastructure. US company HILO plans a US$50 million investment in Mexicali, while Samara will invest US$30 million to create 150 jobs. Fuelture will add US$4 million in Tecate, generating another 60 positions. The services sector is also represented through the construction of a Holiday Inn hotel in Tecate. The US$15 million project is expected to create 50 jobs while supporting business travel and industrial investment in the region. According to the Ministry of Economy and Innovation, five projects represent entirely new investments in the state: LT Precision Mexicali, SprintRay, Schivo, Dongwon and Holiday Inn Tecate. Together, these greenfield investments are expected to generate approximately 640 jobs, while the remaining projects correspond to expansions or new development phases by companies already operating in Baja California. The investment portfolio includes capital from the United States, South Korea, Japan, China, Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Ireland, Iceland and Mexico, highlighting the state's increasingly diversified investor base. "The important thing is that Baja California remains on investors' radar. These projects reflect the state's ability to compete, attract private capital, create formal employment and strengthen its integration into global value chains," Honold Morales said. Export Manufacturing Maintains Growth While the investment pipeline points to continued expansion, recent operational data also indicates that Baja California's manufacturing sector remains resilient. According to administrative records analyzed by INEGI, companies operating under Mexico's IMMEX export manufacturing program increased total hours worked by 2.6% year over year in April 2026, rising from 66.2 million to 67.9 million hours, reported MBN. Export revenues also increased across the state's principal industrial municipalities. Ensenada posted a 3.3% increase in export income, while Mexicali grew 6.8% and Tijuana recorded a 7.0% annual increase. The Ministry of Economy and Innovation said that, excluding atypical fluctuations in Tecate, IMMEX export revenues across Baja California increased 6.8% annually, reflecting continued strength in export-oriented manufacturing and the state's integration into global supply chains. Although employment at IMMEX companies declined 1.4% compared to April 2025, state officials attributed the adjustment to workforce restructuring and operational optimization rather than weaker industrial activity, reported MBN. Honold Morales said the latest figures demonstrate the sector's resilience. "IMMEX companies established in Baja California continue to show solid operations and a strong capacity to adapt to the challenges of the global economic environment," he said.

SprintRay Midas update - new priming tool, multi-unit capsules, and Crown finishing. June 17, 2026 Over the past few months, SprintRay has released a new priming tool for Midas capsules, brought its multi-unit capsules to market, and started sharing technique guides for cementing and finishing printed crowns. Here is a rundown of what is new and what it means for those of you printing restorations chairside. The new Midas priming tool. Priming a Midas capsule has always been a slightly annoying manual step. You break the seal, mix the resin, and get the capsule ready to print. SprintRay's new priming tool is designed to make that a bit easier for both single-unit and multi-unit capsules. Pretty self-explanatory - use the new tool to mix the resin (alternating the plungers a number of times) before removing the clip and the UV film. Looking to buy SprintRay products? Buy them through iDD Shop Multi-unit capsules have arrived. This is the bigger news. SprintRay's Midas multi-unit capsules are now available, after being previewed at the Chicago Midwinter conference earlier this year. The multi-unit format has more than three times the build area of the single-unit capsule (59 x 18 mm), which lets you print several restorations or larger appliances in a single job. Publicly, SprintRay has confirmed the multi-unit capsules for three materials: OnX Tough 2, Digital Temp, and Crown HT. A couple of the workflows worth calling out: * Digital Temp opens up multi-unit temporaries, think temporary bridges and trial smile mock-ups printed in one go. * OnX Tough 2, one of SprintRay's most widely used specialty resins, can now be printed in multi-unit format for larger indications. Pricing varies by reseller and region, but as a rough guide, I have seen Digital Temp multi-unit three-packs listed around $177 USD at US resellers. Confirm current pricing locally before you budget, as it can change. My take, and to be upfront, Multi-unit is a cool idea for anyone doing multi-unit work, veneer cases especially. But I suspect it stays fairly niche for now. For the mass market, single capsules will likely remain the everyday format. It is a capability you will be glad to have when the case calls for it, rather than something you will reach for daily. Want more of the latest in dentistry? Join the RAPID community and get insights straight to your inbox. Cementing printed crowns with G-CEM ONE. Alongside the hardware, SprintRay has announced a new Partnership with GC and has been sharing GC technique guides for the restorative side of the workflow. The first covers cementation using GC's G-CEM ONE, a self-adhesive resin cement, paired with G-Premio BOND and G-Multi PRIMER. The short version: you prepare and bond the tooth, sandblast and prime the restoration, then cement and seat the restoration, clean up the excess, and light cure. As always, follow each material's IFU for the exact protocol and cure times. What is interesting is the bigger picture. As printed crowns move from temporary toward definitive use, having clear, validated cementation protocols matters a lot. It is good to see that side of the workflow getting proper attention, because the printing is only half the job. Getting the restoration to bond and last in the mouth is the other half. Finishing and characterizing with Optiglaze. The second guide covers GC's Optiglaze for characterizing and glazing printed restorations, with the final cure done in the SprintRay NanoCure. The process is simple. Sandblast and clean, prime with G-Multi PRIMER, apply Optiglaze (color or clear) thinly with a brush without air blowing, then cure. Digital Dentistry Limited use Optiglaze regularly, and in my experience, it is one of the best glazes for printables. It noticeably improves the surface luster and aesthetics of printed crowns and has proven reliable for Digital Dentistry Limited. If you are printing restorations and not already glazing them properly, this is worth looking into. Where this leaves things. The through-line across all of this is that the 3D-printing restorative workflow continues to mature. A couple of years ago, the conversation was mostly about whether you could print a usable crown at all. Now Digital Dentistry Limited is talking about multi-unit production, dedicated cementation protocols, and proper finishing systems. The pieces are coming together. Midas remains one of the more interesting stories in chairside printing. If you want the background, Digital Dentistry Limited covered it in depth in its podcast with SprintRay CEO Amir Mansouri, and Digital Dentistry Limited has written more broadly about 3D printing in dentistry across the site. It will be interesting to see where printed restoratives go from here, both in terms of materials and how much of this becomes everyday practice rather than a niche. As always, this is a news update rather than a full review. Digital Dentistry Limited has not independently tested the new priming tool or the multi-unit workflow, and I will report back properly once Digital Dentistry Limited has. If you have any questions, please leave them below. Looking to buy SprintRay products? Buy them through iDD Shop Dr Ahmad is a global leader in digital dentistry, intraoral scanners, 3D printing and CAD/CAM, carrying out lectures as a KOL for many companies and industry. He is one of the few in the world who owns and has tested all mainstream intraoral scanners and CAD/CAM systems in his clinic. Dr Ahmad Al-Hassiny is a full-time private dentist in New Zealand and the Director of The Institute of Digital Dentistry (iDD), a world-leading digital dentistry education provider. iDD offers live courses, masterclasses, and an online training platform, with a mission to ensure dentists globally have easy and affordable access to the best digital dentistry training possible. Read the latest digital dentistry news and reviews: Here is the thing about a bad scan or a poorly done tooth prep. A lot of clinicians don't realize it at If you have followed digital dentistry for any length of time, you will know that exocad sits at the center of a Formlabs Goes Fully Open and What It Means for Dental 3D Printing If you have been following the 3D printing space in The digital full-arch landscape has changed dramatically over the past few years. Intraoral scanners have improved, digital workflows have matured, and clinicians

Smarter systems turn chairside skill into cosmetic dentistry success. Clinical excellence is expanding beyond the handpiece. If you had asked many clinicians early in their careers what defines a "good dentist," the answer often centered on clinical skill alone. Complex endodontics, surgical extractions, implants, and advanced prosthodontics still matter enormously, but today's general and cosmetic dentistry landscape is asking for more. Experiences across private practice, community health, research, and even correctional healthcare are reshaping what it means to succeed. The emerging picture blends clinical excellence with public health awareness, data literacy, and a commitment to equity so every patient benefits from modern care - not just those who find their way to well-resourced practices. Imaging and robotics are redefining everyday treatment planning. Advanced imaging is no longer reserved for rare, complex cases. Practices like West Jordan Family Dentistry are adding cone beam CT technology, using the DEXIS OP 3D LX system to visualize bone, sinuses, tooth roots, and surrounding structures in three dimensions. That level of detail supports more predictable implant placement, sinus lifts, and bone grafting for patients across an entire region. Digital imaging is also evolving beyond CBCT. Dentsply Sirona and Siemens Healthineers have introduced a dental-dedicated MRI system, the MAGNETOM Free.Max Dental Edition, which has received FDA clearance in the United States. Clinical trials highlighted its potential across endodontics, periodontics, TMJ disorders, extractions, and orthodontics by offering non-ionizing imaging and a field of view focused exclusively on dental structures. Closer to the operatory, AMD Lasers' Acuity intraoral sensor uses Direct X-Ray Photon Detection (DXPD) technology to capture more x-ray data than traditional CMOS sensors. The result is clearer, higher-resolution images with greater dynamic range, supported by dedicated imaging software and backed by multi-year and optional lifetime warranties. On the surgical side, robotic guidance is moving from concept to reality. A live implant surgery demonstration using the Yomi S robotic system showed how digital planning can be translated directly into the surgical environment. By integrating with imaging and treatment planning, robotic guidance supports precise implant positioning and gives clinicians greater control in real time. Same-Day restorations and digital workflows reach the cosmetic patient. Cosmetic and restorative expectations keep climbing, and same-visit solutions are becoming a competitive differentiator. SprintRay's Midas World Tour showcases a fully integrated digital restorative workflow created in collaboration with GC America, Align Technology, and Meisinger Dental. Align's iTero scanners capture high-precision digital scans, while SprintRay's AI design studio and Midas Digital tools convert that data into final restorations in under 10 minutes. This kind of workflow connects scanning, additive manufacturing, materials science, and finishing into a single chairside experience. For general and cosmetic dentistry teams, it means fewer appointments, smoother scheduling, and a more streamlined journey from diagnosis to a finished esthetic result. At the same time, updates to foundational restorative tools can have a big impact. Garrison's enhanced Quad Wedges, part of its Quad Matrix System for challenging Class II cases, now feature a firmer material, a redesigned gripping block, and improved tip geometry. Combined with their split-tip design, these refinements help seal cervical margins and maintain ideal contours, supporting both function and esthetics in everyday restorative work. Cloud platforms quietly rewire the business side of care. Behind the scenes, cloud-based and AI-enabled platforms are changing how practices run. Planet DDS's 2026 Dental Industry Outlook reports that case completion rates have risen from 42 percent to 47 percent year over year, with stronger treatment follow-through, better patient reliability, and healthier daily production. The report also underscores that patient engagement is becoming the biggest competitive advantage. Henry Schein One's latest Dentrix Ascend packages build on this shift, unifying practice management, clinical workflows, imaging, and revenue cycle management in a single intelligent, agentic platform. Dentrix and Dentrix Ascend together now serve more than 48,000 practices in the U.S. and support roughly 100 million claims annually, including 90 percent of the top 50 DSOs. Revenue cycle management itself is getting an AI reboot. FlowRCM estimates that the average dental practice loses $50,000 to $150,000 each year to denied claims, errors, and missed appeal deadlines. Its platform aims to prevent denials, automatically recover rejected claims, and replace percentage-based billing services with a predictable flat monthly fee that many practices recoup within the first month. Cloud-based clinical systems are advancing as well. Oryx, for example, represents a fully managed, all-in-one solution built specifically for dentistry, joining other purpose-built platforms such as Vyne for revenue tools and Overjet and Pearl for AI-enhanced imaging analysis. Together, they signal that dentistry is finally catching up to other industries in software innovation. At the infrastructure level, organizations like The Aspen Group (TAG) report nearly double-digit revenue growth across multi-brand healthcare portfolios after investing heavily in clinical training, AI-enabled tools, and digital modernization. TotalOp's all-inclusive operatory subscription model goes even further, combining smart equipment, AI-powered predictive maintenance, and a single monthly fee to activate unused operatories and reduce unplanned downtime. Marketing, patient engagement, and the front office go high-tech. Growth today also depends on smarter communication. Weave has been selected as the exclusive patient engagement platform endorsed for American Dental Association members, reflecting a push toward integrated communication tools for small and midsize practices. These systems aim to connect messaging, scheduling, and patient reminders in one place. Large organizations are using AI to sharpen their marketing ROI. PDS Health is expanding its use of Marchex's conversation intelligence platform to connect offline phone calls back to specific marketing campaigns. By analyzing aggregated call data with AI, they can see which efforts actually lead to scheduled appointments and adjust spend accordingly. Cloud platforms like Planet DDS and Dentrix Ascend, along with AI-powered billing from FlowRCM, make it easier to track case acceptance, follow-through, and collections - giving general and cosmetic practices clearer visibility into where patients drop off and which engagement efforts are working. Consumer oral care brands are setting new patient expectations. Patients are also arriving with higher expectations shaped by what they see on store shelves. Philips Zoom! Take-Home Whitening, for instance, delivers on average up to 8.9 shades of improvement after 14 days of use with minimal sensitivity when used as directed. The system is built around a balance of biology, chemistry, and comfort, addressing common concerns about "zingers" while boosting confidence in an era of constant video calls and social media. At mass retail, LISTERINE's Citrus Mint alcohol-free mouthwash brings a mild grapefruit and yuzu mint flavor, alcohol-free formula, and four essential oils that kill 99.9 percent of bad breath germs. Its positioning around five times more cleaning power and instant fresh breath gives hygienists another option to discuss with patients who want a gentler rinse. Boka's fluoride-free Toothpaste for Sensitive Teeth blends 5 percent potassium nitrate with nano-hydroxyapatite in a Mint Cream flavor to address sensitivity while avoiding fluoride, parabens, and harsh ingredients. For wellness-focused patients, that combination of comfort and "better-for-you" ingredients aligns with broader health trends. AquaSonic's Precision Rechargeable Electric Toothbrush is expanding into hundreds of Target locations, emphasizing access to modern oral care. As more consumers connect oral health with overall wellness, these visible retail launches can spark valuable in-office conversations about brushes, rinses, and at-home whitening that complement professional cosmetic treatments. Turning innovation into a practical game plan. With so many new tools and technologies, it helps to ground decisions in a simple question: does this help more patients complete the care they need with better experiences and outcomes? The latest industry benchmarks, imaging systems, cloud platforms, AI billing tools, engagement solutions, and consumer products all point toward the same opportunity. * Use advanced imaging and, where appropriate, robotic guidance to plan and deliver more precise, confidence-building restorative and implant care. * Leverage cloud and AI platforms to raise treatment completion rates, reduce claim losses, and understand exactly where revenue leaks occur. * Strengthen patient engagement through modern communication tools and data-driven marketing insights that tie outreach directly to scheduled visits. * Align in-office cosmetic services with the whitening, sensitivity relief, and powered brushing options patients already see in retail channels. In this environment, chairside mastery is still essential - but it becomes even more powerful when paired with smarter systems before, during, and after every visit. That combination is where general and cosmetic dentistry can truly stand out in the years ahead.