High-tech hiring to focus on local and veteran workforce
A deal with a Taiwanese company that will bring 900 new technical jobs to Taylor was approved by the City Council this week.
Compal Electronics Inc., which is poised to become the second-largest employer in Taylor behind Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., will get tax breaks, rebates and grants from the city and the Taylor Economic Development Corp.
In exchange, Compal has committed to creating no fewer than 750 jobs, providing internships and training and recruiting heavily from the local and veteran workforce, according to a company official. The goal is to employ up to 900.
Capital expenditures to set up the manufacturing and research facility could top $200 million.
“This is a major project for our community, and it took us over a year to land. They searched all over the country and other countries to locate this facility and Taylor came out on top,” Ben White, president and CEO of the EDC, told the council Thursday night.
The global company will make racks for computer servers that are used in data centers by its subsidiary Compal USA Technology Inc. The company’s clients include big-tech names such as Apple, Google parent Alphabet Inc. and Round Rock’s Dell Technologies.
Compal will set up shop in the 366,000-square-foot TaylorPort building located on 21.7 acres near the RCR Taylor Rail Logistics Park at 1069 FM 3349.
The council unanimously approved a performance-based incentives package for the company, including provisions that allowed money to be clawed back if the milestones aren’t met.
The incentives include a 50% tax abatement on real property and business personal property over 10 years and a 50% rebate on the Taylor EDC’s half-cent sales tax and the 1-cent sales tax on construction.
The value is estimated at about $4.5 million.
The company also will receive a grant from the EDC worth $2 million over the next seven years. This grant helps with job creation, job training, equipment costs and other capital expenditures, White told the Taylor Press.
According to an analysis by Impact DataSource, an independent entity that studies economic development deals for the city, Taylor will make back the money it put into the deal to bring the company to Taylor in 4.3 years.
Compal will work with local school districts to establish internships and is entering into partnerships with Austin Community College and other highereducation institutions to train for the skills needed for technical operator jobs at the company “so they can hit the ground running,” said Rick Ortiz, head of human resources for Compal USA Technology.
White said one big part of landing Compal was the building from Partners Development built on speculation that it would find a tenant.
“Without those speculative buildings we don’t land these projects. Partners went out there on a leap of faith,” he said.
Compal also will set up a smaller operation in Georgetown with about 100 employees.
“In order to land a company of this magnitude — and they’re from Taiwan and it has nothing to do with the semiconductor industry — is the diversification of the economy that we’ve talked about, that we preach about, that we’re working hard to do and we’re bringing good quality jobs to the community,” White told council members ahead of the vote.
