US tech investment sparks dreams of Rust Belt economic revival – but results are uneven

As Biden's 2022 Chips Act sees $280bn poured into economy, new industry has come to some towns but floundered in others

When the plastics manufacturing plant Roger Binegar had worked in for 28 years closed in 2009, it felt like manufacturing in south-western Ohio had all but been consigned to history.

Yet 14 years later, a huge new construction effort is under way a stone's throw from his home outside Jeffersonville. The Japanese carmaker Honda and the electronics company LG are building a battery manufacturing plant slated to employ 2,000 people once it's up and running in 2026.