These announcements represent companies that are either establishing new operations in the region, relocating to the region, or expanding their existing operations in the area.
CATEGORY
The bulk of activity involved the expansion of existing, Houston-area operations, which totaled 252 projects in 2023, a 183% increase over the 89 announced in 2022. These are companies that already have establishments in the Houston area and have either expanded their real estate footprint in the area or have added a significant number of new jobs.
A total of 161 businesses established new facilities in the Houston area in 2023, an increase of 53% from 105 companies new to the region in 2022.
To qualify as a “new business announcement,” the project must disclose at least one of the following: jobs created, capital investment, and/or footage of office or industrial space leased. Only a small fraction of the new business announcements disclose more than one of these values, however. As a result, the Partnership’s analysis of capital investment, employment, and square footage represent a low-ball estimate for new business activity. Of the 415 announcements, 40 provided employment information totaling 8,211 new jobs, 39 on the capital investment totaling $4.0 billion, and 369 on space occupied totaling 34.6 million square feet.
YEAR-OVER-YEAR
2023 logged 415 announcements, a 109 percent increase over 2022 when 199 projects were announced. The significant rise is partly attributed to new sourcing methods such as Google Alerts and CoStar reports.
2023 New Business Announcements Summary:
- 415 announced projects
- 40 projects reported 8,211 new jobs
- 39 projects reported $4.0 billion estimated capital expenditures
- 369 projects reported 34.6 million estimated commercial square footage
2022 New Business Announcement Summary:
- 199 announced projects
- 59 projects reported 6,400 new jobs
- 44 projects reported $4.5 billion capital expenditures
- 100 projects reported 19.0 million commercial square footage
2023 was the second-best year of the past decade. The peak of new business activity in Houston was in 2018, with 475 announced projects. There was a significant decrease to 310 in 2019, likely due to economic uncertainties related to trade tensions and slowing global growth. The number dropped further to 160 in 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted the economy. However, the number increased to 231 in 2021. There was another drop to 199 in 2022. Most recently, Houston-area announcements climbed to a five-year high of 415 projects for 2023.
FACILITY TYPE
The project announcements in 2023 fall into five categories: distribution warehouse, headquarters, manufacturing, office, and research and development. Not all projects announced a specific type of facility.
INDUSTRY
A third (32%) of the announcements in 2023 involve companies engaged in manufacturing. This includes various industries from concrete manufacturing to solar panel manufacturing. Notable companies include Ace Green Recycling, SEG Solar, and Solida Technologies.
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services, ranked second and accounts for 16% of all announcements. This sector primarily comprised companies specializing in technical consulting, engineering, and scientific research & development. Notable companies in this sector that made announcements include Braidwell, Intelligenome, and Systemic Bio.
2023 PARTNERSHIP WINS
The Partnership played a key role in 31of the new business announcements in 2023. The Partnership’s support included services such as a potential site selection, possible incentives for establishing a facility in the area, and market research. These Partnership supported projects collectively generated more than 4,000 new jobs, attracted more than $1.7 Billion in capital investment, and represented 11 U.S.-based companies and 20 international companies.
Details on selected Partnership projects:
- ACE Green Recycling, a battery recycling company, is building a battery recycling plant near Houston. With a capital investment of $150 million, the project is expected to generate 100 jobs.
- Aksa Power Generation, a portable industrial generator manufacturer headquartered in Turkey, is investing $20 million into a facility which will create approximately 100 new jobs.
- Amogy is an ammonia-to-power equipment manufacturer opening a 53,000 square foot facility and providing approximately 200 new jobs. The $40 million facility is set to be fully operational in early 2024.
- Carbon Clean, a British business that develops carbon capture solutions for difficult-to-abate industries including cement, steel, and refineries, is launching an office in Houston, with plans for future expansion. With an undetermined financial expenditure, the initial office will provide two jobs.
- Cimsa is a Turkish cement manufacturer expanding its Houston footprint by 100,000 square feet. The project has an investment of $25 million and will create 20 more jobs.
- Daikin Comfort Technologies, a Japanese HVAC manufacturer, is expanding its Houston presence with a new product line for their most recent digital HVAC technology. The expansion will amount to $40 million and create 200 new jobs.
- Finc Biotech is a Singaporean subsidiary of Shanghai company, entered a joint venture Huayuan Food Group to open a 258,000 sq. ft. edible fungus factory, which will produce 50 tons of mushrooms daily. The project is projected to create 60 jobs with an estimated capital investment of $58 million.
- Hicri Ercili, a Turkish chemical company is establishing a sales and distribution office in Houston with plans for further expansion of a chemical manufacturing plant in the near future. With a $2.7 million capital expenditure, the first office will create 18 jobs.
- Intelligenome is a medical device company focused on diagnosing diseases, founded in New Orleans. The company is relocating its headquarters to Houston with research and development and office space. The project will create up to 30 jobs and will invest up to $9 million.
- Konec is a South Korean auto parts manufacturer opening a 200,000 square foot manufacturing facility for electric vehicle for Tesla. The project is creating 200 jobs with a capital investment of $80 million.
- Mallard Bay is a tech startup from LSU with a booking platform for outdoor charters and outfitters. The company previously placed in the Rice Business Plan Competition in 2022 and will create approximately 10 jobs.
- OmniSource is an Indiana-based processor, distributor and manager of scrap and secondary metal, building a recycling facility on a 40-acre, rail-served site in Dayton. The $40 million project will create approximately 55 jobs.
- PV Hardware is a solar panel frame manufacturer from Spain and a subsidiary of Gransolar. The company is opening a manufacturing and assembly facility in Fort Bend County. The project is projected to create 70 jobs with an estimated capital investment of $5.5 million.
- SEG Solar, a solar panel manufacturer, is establishing a panel production facility in the Houston area. With a capital expenditure of $35 million, the project is expected to create 500 jobs.
- Sumika Semiconductor Materials Texas Inc, a Sumitomo Chemical subsidiary, is constructing a high-purity semiconductor process chemical manufacturing facility in the Houston area. The project will cost $250 million and will create 50 jobs in the region.
- Tinci Materials is an Asian chemical manufacturing company. It is building a 100,000 sq. ft. facility in Baytown with planned capacity of 200kt to supply U.S. domestic EV and Lithium-ion battery manufacturers. The project is projected to create 139 jobs with an estimated capital investment of $182 million.
Methodology
The Partnership Methodology compiles information from a variety of sources for our New Business Announcements (NBAs) database. Methods include, but are not limited to, scraping news articles, monitoring Google alerts, and tapping into several databases, such as CoStar. We also include Partnership-assisted projects from our Economic Development Division. Generally, NBAs are projects that meet the qualifying criteria for new and/or expanded corporate real estate facilities, such as having new construction or renovation and meeting one or more of the following criteria: creating 20 or more new jobs, having 5,000 or more square footage, or having an investment of $1 million or more. Retail, educational, government, and other non-commercial facilities do not qualify, but projects creating a headquarters, data center, distribution warehouse, call center, or research and development facility will count.
Prepared by Greater Houston Partnership Research
Margaret Barrientos
Research Analyst
mbarrientos@houston.org