SANTA TERESA, NM – New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and Hota Industrial Manufacturing President David Shen announced a final agreement to expand the leading auto parts supplier’s business in the border state.
Taiwan-based Hota Industrial Manufacturing, a producer of automotive gears for North American and European customers including Tesla, signed an agreement for a 30-acre site at Westpark Industrial Park in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, with construction expected to begin in 2024.
The New Mexico Economic Development Department (EDD) reported that the company plans to hire 350 employees and invest US$99 million in the state, with possible future expansions over the next decade.
Business executives, business and government leaders made the announcement at a press conference in Taipei City, where Governor Lujan Grisham was a guest speaker at U.S. Business Day and is leading a trade mission to advance New Mexico as a destination for relocating Asian manufacturing to the United States.
“Hota shares with me a firm belief in the potential of the great state of New Mexico. This announcement sits at the nexus of many of this administration’s priorities, including bolstering global trade and ensuring a cleaner automotive sector. industry. Hota’s investment in Borderplex reaffirms what we already know: New Mexico is on the move,” said Governor Lujan Grisham.
Hota’s U.S. expansion is driven by a growing awareness that manufacturing companies need a more diverse and resilient supply chain so that companies do not experience production slowdowns due to labor or transportation disruptions. About 70% of Hota’s market is in the Americas.
“Hota has chosen Santa Teresa as its next manufacturing site based on several comparative analyses between states on the U.S.-Mexico border. Its location makes it within a day’s trucking distance to many of our major customers. Transportation infrastructure exists to support the logistics of our goods and services,” said Hota President David Shen.
The State of New Mexico has awarded Hota US$3 million to assist with land, construction and infrastructure costs from the Local Economic Development Act (LEDA) Job Creation Fund. The company may qualify for other incentives, including the High Wage Jobs Tax Credit, the Manufacturers Investment Tax Credit, and job training assistance through the Job Training Incentive Program (JTIP).
The City of Anthony, New Mexico, is assisting with the expansion by issuing Industrial Revenue Bonds, which reduce the property tax burden.
The project has an estimated economic impact of US$4.3 billion over 10 years. Hota Group has a global presence with facilities in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, China, as well as in the U.S., Michigan and California, with more than 4,000 employees worldwide.
The Santa Teresa Port of Entry is a major crossroads between the United States and Mexico and is the first land port without a bridge structure from the East. Because of this, it serves a critical function for the industrial regions of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez as the only port that is not limited by space or weight.
In the last two years, Santa Teresa, or STPOE, has doubled the number of commercial vehicles processed per hour and reached a new record in 2022 by processing more than 160,000 trucks.
