SANTA TERESA, New Mexico (Border Report) – Southern New Mexico is building a strong trade partnership with one Asian nation, as three Taiwanese companies plan to bring nearly 400 jobs here in 2021.
Label maker Cymmetrik this month said it signed a lease in the Santa Teresa Border Zone and will begin operations early next year. Cymmetrik is the largest label printer in China, with three factories in Southeast Asia, according to the New Mexico Economic Development Department.
The Santa Teresa plant will be the company’s first in North America.
Last September, Xxentria Technology Materials Company announced it purchased 40 acres across the FedEx Ground facility in the Westpark Logistics Center in Santa Teresa for industrial facilities that will complement a new production plant in Chihuahua, Mexico.
Earlier, Admiral Cable said it’ll build a $50 million, 195,000 square-foot facility. That plant is also expected to open in early 2021.
“The arrival of Cymmetrik — the third Taiwanese company to locate to the Santa Teresa border region in two years — has helped create a cluster of foreign manufacturing companies and shows the start of a much larger trend,” said Melinda Allen, interim president of the New Mexico Partnership, the state’s industrial recruiting arm.
Officials said Cymmetrik would start off with about 20 positions while Xxentria is planning to hire 35 supervisory employees and Admiral Cable would hire 342 workers.
The companies have been recruited through trade missions; more Taiwanese companies will be contacted through a liaison office in the capital of Taipei, trade officials said.
“The real story is the reshoring of jobs from China,” said Jerry Pacheco, president of the Santa Teresa-based Border Industrial Association.
The U.S. government and many local entities have been pushing for a relocation of manufacturing facilities from Asia after disruptions in the supply chain caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Santa Teresa promoters and New Mexico officials have moved aggressively in the past few months to pitch competitive production costs across the border in Mexico as well as the growing port of entry and rail connections in Santa Teresa.
Pacheco said the Doña Ana County International Jetport at Santa Teresa this fall completed a $9 million renovation that allows planes carrying up to 94,000 pounds of cargo to land and take off there.
According to state officials, New Mexico led the nation in 2019 in export growth, with an increase of 31% in volume. Exports from New Mexico to Mexico also grew 68% last year, and that was directly attributable to the expansion of industrial operations in Santa Teresa.
