Central Texas has become a magnet for South Korean companies
By Justin Sayers – Senior Staff Writer, Austin Business Journal
Sep 10, 2024
The South Korean ambassador to the United States and U.S. ambassador to South Korea will be in Williamson County on Sept. 11 as part of a tri-state tour to reaffirm the economic relationship between the two countries.
Cho Hyn-dong and Philip S. Goldberg will visit Williamson County and Taylor, where South Korean electronics giant Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is building its new manufacturing plant as part of a $45 billion investment there and at its existing site in North Austin. They will hold a press conference alongside Taylor Independent School District Superintendent Jennifer Garcia-Edwardson, Williamson County Judge Bill Gravell and Taylor Mayor Dwayne Ariola.
The Williamson County stop comes as part of a week-long trip to Michigan, Texas and Arizona, where the officials will meet with elected officials and businesspeople, hold talks on university campuses and visit semiconductor-related businesses while discussing global affairs and other business issues, according to Korean news outlets. The first stop in Michigan included a roundtable at the University of Michigan, where the leaders discussed the importance of the countries’ economic development partnership, according to The Michigan Daily.
“This event is expected to serve as an opportunity to reaffirm the two countries’ partnership, which has seen active cooperation in economy, science and technology, and education fields, and to raise awareness of the South Korea-U.S. alliance in the U.S.,” the South Korean Embassy in Washington said in an announcement, according to the Yonhap News Agency.
South Korea has become a target for the Austin-area for foreign investment due to the countries’ synergies in a number of industries, primarily semiconductors and electric vehicles. It’s specifically been a target for Williamson County, which has established an office in the country and regularly sends delegations there to meet with companies. But others, including economic development groups both in Austin and south of it, have visited the country this year to court business to Central Texas.
That has spurred a number of companies — primarily suppliers to Samsung and Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc., which makes cars in eastern Travis County — to set up shop in the region in recent years, targeting cities as far north as Killeen, as far east as Bastrop and as far south as Kyle. Those companies include Soulbrain Holdings Co. Ltd., which is building a $575 million chemical plant in Taylor; Wonik Materials Co. Ltd., which is building a $46 million facility in Manor; and Hanwha Advanced Materials LLC, which is building a $100 million, 200,000-square-foot advanced high-tech manufacturing facility near Georgetown.
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