New Mexico Economic Development Department (EDD) Secretary Alicia J. Keyes announced that a third Taiwanese company has decided to locate a manufacturing operation to the Santa Teresa Border Zone in Southern New Mexico.
Cymmetrik signed a lease and is set to begin operations in New Mexico in the early part of 2021. Cymmetrik, a Taiwanese family-owned company, is the biggest label printer and converter in China with three factories in Southeast Asia. The expansion of manufacturing to Santa Teresa represents its first in North America.
"New Mexico's strategic location will continue to be a key factor for innovative companies seeking to expand," Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said. "I remain incredibly optimistic about our state's ability to attract and maintain new business partnerships in the border region."
Cymmetrik joins Admiral Cable and Xxentria as Taiwanese-based companies that are moving operations to Santa Teresa. The New Mexico location offers Cymmetrik and other companies significant advantages with a low cost of business as well as logistical assets, including the Union Pacific Intermodal Terminal, the Doña Ana County International Jetport, and Interstate 10.
“New Mexico’s Border Region is well positioned for growth as companies from all over the world look to diversify their production plants and distribution centers to locate closer to North American customers,” Secretary Keyes said. “Admirial Cable, Xxentria, and now Cymmetrik see the advantages of being close to the international border in New Mexico and others will follow.”
Cymmetrik is a world leader in applied printing, processing, and manufacturing, and has established deep, firm partnerships over the years with top-tier global names in electronics, personal/home consumables, medical, and automotive industries, according to the company.
“This project, helmed by Cymmetrik Technologies USA Southwest, Inc. in Santa Teresa, N.M., represents Cymmetrik’s first manufacturing site in North America. Once complete, it will provide local services to surrounding ICT (Information and Communications Technology) and automotive companies,” Cymmetrik’s North American spokesman Anton Tao said.
“Cymmetrik is grateful for all the support from the state and local governments. Their prompt services and economic support from the very beginning were significant assets and smoothed the entire process greatly. As Cymmetrik’s first manufacturing site in the United States, we will strive to become a model of not just business success, but also one of corporate social responsibility,” Tao added.
Doña Ana County is the fiscal agent for the project and the company was assisted in site location by the New Mexico Partnership.
“Cymmetrik, being 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. New Mexico’s strategic location and world-class manufacturing environment have made us a prime location for companies that are rethinking their global strategies,” Melinda Allen, interim president of the NM Partnership, said.
Gov. Lujan Grisham has chosen global trade as one of nine target industries to grow better jobs in New Mexico and diversify the economy. This is one reason the state is working to recruit more businesses from Asia.
EDD and state officials made a 2019 trade visit to Taiwan. EDD has also opened a trade office in Taipei with a contract liaison. This liaison will work with existing Taiwanese companies looking to expand in to North America and to familiarize them with New Mexico. Additionally, the liaison will work with the N.M. Department of Agriculture to increase state agricultural exports in the region.
New Mexico is well positioned as companies look to expand their supply chains and move manufacturing to the United States after the COVID-19 health emergency, in order to be closer to, and gain new customers, in this market.
The logistical connectivity to Mexico and the rest of the United States, coupled with competitive production costs, is making Santa Teresa the fastest growing industrial base on the U.S.-Mexico border.
New Mexico led all 50 states in 2019 export growth (31%), according to statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau. Additionally, New Mexico’s export growth to Mexico (68%) leads the nation and is directly attributable to the expansion in Santa Teresa.
The state has awarded $160,000 from its LEDA job-creator fund to Cymmetrik for 10 new jobs. Xxentria is planning to hire 35 supervisory employees in New Mexico and Admiral Cable is hiring 342 employees for manufacturing for its new 195,000-square-foot factory set to open in early 2021.