Chobani is putting $1.2 billion into a plant in eastern Pennsylvania that it bought from Keurig Dr Pepper, and Josh Shapiro, the state's governor, says Pennsylvania's milk production will rise 30% because of it.
Pennsylvania has just issued an executive order that stops a data-center developer from applying for a state permit until it has won local support. The same administration spent three months clearing wastewater and permitting obstacles so a yogurt maker could build.
"I think, respectfully, you're mischaracterizing it."
Shapiro signed that executive order, and his administration cleared this plant's permits over the same summer. Hamdi Ulukaya founded Chobani, gave employees a stake he says is now 15% of the company, and is buying the Pennsylvania site to launch a product Chobani has never sold.
I listened to the full segment so you can skip it.
Here are the 7 takeaways that matter.
👤 Guests: Josh Shapiro, governor of Pennsylvania, who signed the state's new permitting order for data centers, and Hamdi Ulukaya, founder and chief executive of Chobani
🎙️ Host: David Faber, co-anchor of Squawk on the Street on CNBC
📰 Published: 1 September 2026 on CNBC (Squawk on the Street)
🟢 Spotify | 🟣 Apple Podcasts | 🔗 Episode page | ⏱️ 9 min
Key Takeaways
One food plant raises a whole state's milk output by 30% Shapiro puts Pennsylvania's dairy farm count at about 4,300, and says this is the largest private-sector agriculture investment in the state's history
Chobani bought the factory rather than building it, which is the reason it can move Keurig Dr Pepper sold it a facility that already exists
The product is a milkshake, a category Chobani has never sold
Employee ownership at Chobani is now 15%, and Ulukaya still will not date an IPO He said the wealth question comes after the factory works
A data-center developer in Pennsylvania must now generate its own power and pay for it Local support has to be won before the developer can even apply to the state for permits
Shapiro rejects the charge that he waves through food factories and blocks data centers
The construction unions endorsed the order, and Shapiro says some tech companies did too
1. A $1.2B Plant From KDP
The segment was billed as a CNBC exclusive and opened on the deal itself rather than on either man.
The show's own framing carried the numbers. The host said Chobani is investing $1.2 billion in a new manufacturing hub in eastern Pennsylvania, that the facility was acquired from Keurig Dr Pepper, that it is expected to create more than 900 jobs, and that it will source more than 3 billion pounds of milk a year at full capacity
Ulukaya said demand for the category, not capacity, is what triggered the purchase. "And where we are is demand for good food, natural food at its highest." He said the projection is that the demand continues for the foreseeable future
He described Keurig Dr Pepper as Chobani's partners and said "this plant became available from KDP" — the company is buying an existing facility rather than building one
The deal nearly did not happen. Ulukaya said Chobani faced challenges on the site and that the governor and his team came in at that point
2. 30% More Milk in PA
Shapiro answered a question about what the plant means for the state with a production figure rather than a jobs figure.
His headline number is state-wide milk output. Shapiro said that thanks to the investment "we are going to see a 30% increase in our milk production in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania" He put the number of dairy farmers across the state at about 4,300
He called it the largest private-sector agriculture investment in the history of the Commonwealth, and described the terms as over $1 billion of private-sector investment and nearly a thousand jobs
Shapiro framed the winner as the dairy farms rather than the factory. "This is a huge win for our dairy farmers." The argument is that the milk has to be bought from somewhere, and the farms are already there
3. A Milkshake, Not Yogurt
Asked whether the plant is about volume or about the ability to make different formats, Ulukaya went to the product.
The plant makes something Chobani does not currently sell. "It's a milk product milkshake." He said it is a category he expects to disrupt
His reason for the site is the milk supply and the farms around it. Ulukaya, who started Chobani in Upstate New York, said people do not realize the quality of the milk in western Pennsylvania or the generational farming tradition there
He drew the contrast with the technology build-out himself, saying that whatever happens with artificial intelligence and data centers, family farms and the land they sit on do not move. "And this land, it stays where it is for generations."
He said the plant is already built, which is what makes launching a new product there attractive
4. The IPO Question, Ducked
David Faber cut in to ask the question the deal did not cover.
Faber's opening was the employee shares. He said Ulukaya gave out Chobani shares roughly ten years ago to as many as 10% of employees, and that many of those holders would want to monetize. "When are we going to see you finally take this thing public?"
Ulukaya corrected the figure upward and gave no date. "It's 15% now." He said the moment when employees can access the wealth they generated will be a beautiful one, and left it there
His answer was to put the plant first. "But before that, we got to make this factory work."
5. Wastewater and Red Tape
Shapiro came back unprompted to explain what the state actually did.
The obstacles were environmental permits. "We had a lot of challenges with wastewater and permitting, and we worked together, our outstanding team, local government, to cut through the red tape, to move quickly to get this done."
Ulukaya put the clock on it at three months and said the number of obstacles removed in that time was unbelievable
Shapiro's second point was about the buyer, not the process. He said he has never worked with a chief executive who was as interested in the community he was building in — the farming community, the town of Allentown, the people who would work there — as he was in the terms of the deal
6. The Data-Center Order
The host put it to Shapiro that data centers also create jobs and tax revenue, and asked why he embraces one and says no to the other.
Shapiro rejected the premise. "I think, respectfully, you're mischaracterizing it." He said the projects Pennsylvania does not want are the ones from developers who are trying to run roughshod over local communities
The order sets three conditions, and he listed them in order. "Number one, you've got to earn local support before you can come to the state for permits." "Number two, you've got to generate your own power and you've got to pay for the power. You can't saddle local homeowners and businesses with that." "Number three, you've got to protect our water supply and our air quality."
The conditions are binding, not guidance. Shapiro said a developer that wants to build a data center in Pennsylvania is now legally bound to those standards
His stated aim is to knock out developers who do not treat a community as a partner, and to keep the ones who do
7. Who Backed the Order
Asked whether the industry has heard the message, Shapiro answered with the list of who has signed up.
The building trades endorsed it. "It's been embraced by NABTU. Those are the building and construction trade folks that actually build these facilities." North America's Building Trades Unions represents the workers who would construct the projects the order regulates
He also claimed local governments and part of the industry. Shapiro said local governments feel they have the power back, and that some of the responsible tech companies have embraced it as well
He put the timing at about a week. Shapiro said he issued the order about a week or so before the interview, and argued Pennsylvania is becoming a national standard for how to do development that works with a community rather than against it
Bonus Insights
Ulukaya said Chobani has just announced a large plant in Rome for its yogurt and cream products, and that he has faced this kind of build-out problem before
He named Idaho and Upstate New York as the two places Chobani has done the same thing — moved into a community with good milk and built there
The interview was conducted with both men at a small farm, and Ulukaya described the milk and the farming tradition as western Pennsylvania's while the plant itself is in Allentown and Lehigh County, in the east of the state
Shapiro's bottom line is that Pennsylvania will clear the way in months for a company that courts the community it builds in, and will make one that does not wait at the local level before the state will even look at it.
Products, Companies & Tools Mentioned
Chobani (Buying a $1.2 billion Pennsylvania plant to launch a milkshake, with employee ownership Ulukaya says is now 15%)
Keurig Dr Pepper (Sold Chobani the facility; Ulukaya called the company Chobani's partners and said the plant "became available")
North America's Building Trades Unions (The construction unions Shapiro says embraced his data-center order — the people who would build the projects it regulates)
Books & Resources Mentioned
Executive Order 2026-05 (The data-center order Shapiro walked through on air: earn local support first, generate and pay for your own power, protect water and air)
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