Taiwanese autoparts maker coming to Santa Teresa

Taiwanese autoparts maker Hota Industrial Manufacturing will invest $72 million in a new factory at the Santa Teresa industrial zone in southern New Mexico, creating 350 jobs, the state Economic Development Department announced on Monday.

The company, which makes automotive gears for North American and European firms, plans to build its facility on a 30-acre parcel in Westpark, one of the four industrial parks that make up the border business zone just north of the Santa Teresa Port of Entry.

“Hota chose New Mexico’s borderplex because of the availability of desirable land, the workforce, and our logistical advantages that provide access to both Mexico’s factories and North American customers,” said EDD Secretary Alicia J. Keyes in a statement. “Hota is one of several new companies who see New Mexico as a solution to fortify and diversify their global supply chain.”

The company is now discussing a variety of investment incentives with the EDD, which could include Local Economic Development Act funding to help build its facility, assistance through the Job Training Incentive Program, and operation-related tax credits, although a final agreement on those things is still pending, said EDD spokesman Bruce Krasnow.

EDD discussed the incentive package with the company in Santa Teresa last week, Krasnow told the Journal. But Hota must still submit a formal application, which will then be “reviewed and vetted” by the state.

Hota is a global player in the automotive industry, with facilities in Japan, Taiwan, China, the U.S. and Mexico. Once established at Santa Teresa, it will become the third Taiwanese firm to set up operations in the industrial zone, where some 75 companies already operate.

Santa Teresa has become a huge magnet for manufacturers like Hota who supply raw materials and parts to factories in Mexico, and who provide warehousing and other services for exporters and importers along the border.

Two other companies — food processing firms Louisiana Pepper Exchange and Oro LLC — announced plans in May to open operations at the industrial parks. And Franklin Mountain Packaging — which makes corrugated sheets and provides digital printing services for the box-making industry — also signed a lease in June to expand its existing operations in Santa Teresa, adding a new 150,000 square-foot factory alongside its current building.

Jerry Pacheco, trade consultant and executive director of the International Business Accelerator, which works to recruit trade-related companies to the border region, said business operations and new construction at Santa Teresa is booming.

“I’ve been working to build business here for 32 years, and I’ve never seen this much construction going on in the industrial zone,” Pacheco told the Journal. “It’s unprecedented.”

Apart from private development, a number of new public works are either underway or planned to better manage all the cross-border traffic and industrial operations in the zone, Pacheco said.

That includes construction of a new highway parallel to the border that will run from Santa Teresa to Sunland Park, offering commercial traffic a fast, direct link with El Paso.

Another $20 million in upgrades are also underway at the Dona Ana County International Jetport just north of the industrial parks. And, last month, the Federal Railroad Administration announced $37.1 million in grant funding to replace a railroad crossing inside the industrial parks with an elevated roadway over the tracks to improve safety and efficiency and reduce environmental impacts.

The state also recently received $500,000 in federal funding for an initial study on enlarging and modifying the Santa Teresa port of entry, which hit a new record in commercial crossings in 2022, with 160,000 trucks processed at the border.

“We just had our first public meeting last week to discuss the study,” Pacheco said. “We’re breaking records in commercial crossings and we want to get ahead of congestion going forward to avoid reaching a bottleneck in the future.”