Millennium Print Group, the trading card manufacturer wholly owned by The Pokémon Company International, has leased 1.27 million square feet at North Carolina’s Spark LS campus—the largest manufacturing lease signed in the United States this year. This massive expansion directly addresses the persistent Pokémon card shortages that have plagued retailers since fall 2024, though collectors won’t see relief until late 2027 or 2028.
The deal, announced on December 16, 2025, by developers Trinity Capital Advisors and Starwood Capital Group, represents a transformative move to expand Pokémon TCG production capacity. While the developers officially declined to name the tenant, multiple sources including the Triangle Business Journal and Pokémon news outlet PokeBeach have confirmed it is Millennium Print Group, the Morrisville-based company that has printed Pokémon cards since 2015 and was acquired by TPCi in April 2022.
A 1.27 million square foot expansion in North Carolina’s Research Triangle
The new manufacturing hub is located at Spark LS, a mixed-use life sciences and advanced manufacturing campus in Morrisville, North Carolina, adjacent to Research Triangle Park and approximately four miles from Raleigh-Durham International Airport. The campus spans roughly 109 acres and was developed through a joint venture between Charlotte-based Trinity Capital Advisors and Miami Beach-based Starwood Capital Group.
Millennium’s expansion breaks down into two components: more than 400,000 square feet in existing buildings at Spark, plus a newly constructed 866,000 square foot manufacturing facility. According to CBRE researchers, this combined commitment represents the single largest manufacturing lease signed anywhere in the U.S. in 2025.
“This Morrisville-based global company’s decision to establish a major presence at Spark LS is a transformative milestone, both for our campus and for the region’s advanced manufacturing ecosystem,” said Tyson Strutzenberg, Managing Director of Asset Management at Trinity Capital.
Pokemon card shortages drove the expansion decision
The expansion is a direct response to chronic Pokémon TCG supply problems. Throughout 2025, The Pokémon Company has repeatedly acknowledged that it is printing cards at maximum capacity but cannot keep up with demand. The bottleneck is specifically printing capacity—the physical printers simply cannot produce enough cards to meet market demand.
The supply crisis intensified dramatically in fall 2024 following the launch of Pokémon TCG Pocket, the mobile app that reignited global interest in Pokémon cards. Sets like Prismatic Evolutions have been virtually impossible to find at retail, with scalpers and resellers exacerbating the scarcity. The Pokémon Company has issued multiple statements vowing to maximize production and reprint impacted sets, but fundamental capacity constraints have limited their ability to respond.
Production statistics underscore the scale of the challenge. Pokémon printed 11.9 billion cards between March 2022 and March 2023—its best year on record—followed by 10.2 billion cards from March 2023 to 2024. Even at these staggering volumes, supply has consistently fallen short of demand. Millennium Print Group currently operates over 1.5 million square feet of manufacturing space across facilities in North Carolina and the Netherlands, with reported capacity of approximately 26.6 million cards per day.
Card collectors face a long wait for improved availability
Despite the massive investment, Pokémon fans should temper their expectations for immediate relief. Upfitting of existing space and construction of the new facility will begin in 2026, with full-scale operations not expected until late 2028. This timeline suggests that card shortages will likely persist through most of 2026 and potentially into 2027.
When the expanded facilities do come online, the impact should be substantial. Greater production capacity will serve two purposes: making cards easier to purchase at retail in the first place, and driving down resale prices by reducing artificial scarcity. Lower resale prices should, in turn, discourage scalpers from hoarding product, creating a virtuous cycle that benefits actual collectors and players.
The deal leaves 150,000 square feet of constructed space still available at Spark, with room for an additional 210,000 square feet of manufacturing development on the campus.
Official statements remain carefully worded
Neither The Pokémon Company International nor Millennium Print Group has issued an official press release confirming the lease. The developers have maintained the tenant’s anonymity in their formal announcements, describing them only as a “Morrisville-based global company.” This corporate discretion contrasts with TPCi’s more direct communications about card shortages.
In earlier 2025 statements addressing supply issues, Pokémon’s official position has been clear: “We’re aware that some fans are experiencing difficulties purchasing certain Pokémon Trading Card Game products due to very high demand impacting availability. We are actively working to print more of the impacted Pokémon TCG products as quickly as possible and at maximum capacity.”
The 2022 acquisition of Millennium Print Group foreshadowed this expansion. TPCi President Kenji Okubo stated at the time that the goal was to “develop Millennium into an even better, bigger, state-of-the-art version of their already exceptional organization.” This lease represents the most significant step toward fulfilling that vision.
Conclusion
This landmark manufacturing lease signals Pokémon’s long-term commitment to solving its supply crisis through infrastructure investment rather than just operational optimization. The 1.27 million square foot expansion will roughly double Millennium’s current North American footprint and should meaningfully increase card production capacity once operational in late 2028. For Pokémon TCG enthusiasts, the news offers genuine hope—but patience will remain essential as the new facilities take years to come online. The deal also cements North Carolina’s Research Triangle region as a critical hub for gaming merchandise manufacturing, with this lease joining other major investments like Novartis’s recent $771 million expansion announcement in the same area.
