TRAVIS E. POLING Special to the Press
Reports say Taylor and Georgetown will gain 1,000 jobs from COMPAL
A major Taiwanese tech manufacturer that contracts with some of the largest companies in the U.S. is setting up shop in Taylor and Georgetown.
COMPAL Electronics Inc. recently announced its board voted to approve spending $65.67 million to lease manufacturing space in Taylor and another $28.43 million on a site in Georgetown for a client-support service center.
The global company will make racks for computer servers that are used in data centers by its subsidiary COMPAL USA Technology Inc. The company’s clients include big-tech names such as Apple, Google parent Alphabet Inc. and Round Rock’s Dell Technologies.
Much of the recent hightech interest in the area is driven by the pending operational status of the massive Samsung Austin Semiconductor foundry in Taylor. The parent company, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., is based in South Korea.
COMPAL USA Technology CEO Anthony Peter Bonadero said the tech giant’s move deepens the company’s roots in Texas.
“Taylor and Georgetown are more than business locations – they are communities that share our values of innovation, integrity, and opportunity. Together, we are building a foundation to better serve our customers across North America,” Bonadero said in a written statement.
The company did not respond to email requests for additional details on the timing of the moves and when hiring might begin.
The two sites will total about 600,000 square feet and create as many as 1,000 new jobs in Williamson County, unnamed sources told the Austin Business Journal last week.
“This strategic investment underscores COMPAL’s commitment to strengthening its presence in North America and enhancing the resilience of its global supply chain,” according to a written statement on the company website. “This expansion reflects COMPAL’s proactive response to evolving business needs and long-term strategic planning amid the current geopolitical environment.”
That environment is one in which tariffs are causing international suppliers to the U.S. to rethink their manufacturing locations.
The latest expansion in the U.S. “aims to meet the needs of its U.S. clients and respond to the ‘Made in America’ manufacturing trend prompted by U.S. tariffs,” the Taipei Times newspaper reported, citing an unnamed source at the company.
The company official also said component supplies for the American plants, which now consist of locations in Indiana and Reynosa, Mexico, on the border with Texas, will be imported in the short term but “plans to localize its supply chain by cooperating with local component suppliers in the long term.”
There is also talk about eventually moving some computer motherboard manufacturing to the U.S., although it is unclear if that would be in Williamson County or another site.
COMPAL is one of the largest makers of notebook computers in the world and currently makes all its motherboards in Taiwan and Vietnam.
Texas has a state office in Taiwan to attract businesses.
Dave Porter, the executive director of the Williamson County Economic Development Partnership, told Greater Taylor Chamber of Commerce members last month there is a lot of interest from Taiwanese companies wanting to locate in the county that is quickly becoming an industrial tech hub.
The company did not specify where the Williamson County leases would be, but sources told the Austin Business Journal that COMPAL would take all 366,000 square feet of a building in the RCR Rail Logistics Park near Taylor, next to a rail-side building recently bought by electric automaker Tesla.
The other location would be the remaining 212,000 square feet in Georgetown Logistics Park.
Taylor Economic Development Corp. CEO Ben White said he couldn’t comment on anything that wasn’t up for a vote by the city or EDC board.
He also couldn’t confirm RCR as the location for the company’s U.S. expansion but said the site has received a lot of attention.
“We’ve hosted a lot of prospects out there,” White told the Taylor Press. “It’s a very active site.”
“ “Taylor and Georgetown are more than business locations – they are communities that share our values.”
— Peter Bonadero, COMPAL USA Technology
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