New Business Announcements: 2024 Annual

These announcements include companies that plan to establish, relocate, or expanded existing operations in the region.

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. However, only a fraction of the companies disclose more than one of these values. As a result, the Partnership’s analysis of capital investment, employment, and square footage represents a low-ball estimate for new business activity in the region. Of the 540 announcements, 46 provided information on employment (6,760 total jobs), 45 on the capital investment ($10.7 billion total), and 499 on space to be occupied (36.3 million total square feet).

CATEGORY

Most activity involved the expansion of existing local operations, (379 projects in ’24), a 50 percent increase over the 252 announced in ’23. These companies already have establishments in Houston and have either expanded their real estate footprint or added a significant number of new jobs. 

A total of 158 businesses established new facilities in the Houston area in ’24, a 2 percent drop from 161 in ’23.

YEAR-OVER-YEAR

’24 logged 540 announcements, a 30 percent increase over ’23 with 415 projects. The jump is partly attributed to improved methods for identifying and gathering information on companies expanding/relocating to the region. 

2024 New Business Announcements Summary:

• 540 announced projects
• 46 projects reported 6,760 new jobs
• 45 projects reported $10.7 billion estimated capital expenditures
• 499 projects reported 36.3 million estimated commercial square footage

2023 New Business Announcement 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

ANNOUNCEMENTS BY FACILITY TYPE

’24 was the best year of the past decade. Prior to ’24, the peak was in ’18, with 475 announced projects. Announcements fell to 310 in ’19 due to economic uncertainties, trade tensions, and slower global growth. They dropped to 160 in ’20, as the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the economy. However, the number increased to 231 in 2021.  There was another drop to 199 in 2022. 

FACILITY TYPE

The project announcements in ’24 fall into five categories: distribution/warehouse, headquarters, manufacturing, office, and research and development. Not all announcements specified a type of facility.

INDUSTRY

Roughly a third (30 percent) of the announcements in ’24 involve companies engaged in manufacturing. The industries varied from concrete production to solar panel assembly. Notable companies include BioNova Scientific Inc. and QYK Brands. 

Professional, scientific, and technical services ranked second in number of announcements and accounted for 14 percent of all projects. This includes firms specializing in technical consulting, engineering, and scientific research and development. Notable companies in this sector that made announcements include Lumus Technology and Eisbach Bio.

PARTNERSHIP WINS

The Partnership played a key role in 36 of the new business announcements in ’24, assisting with site selection, evaluation of possible incentives, and identifying potential suppliers. These Partnership-supported projects collectively generated more than 5,000 new jobs, attracted more than $1.1 billion in capital investment, and represented 16 U.S.-based firms and 20 international companies.

Details on selected Partnership projects:

• Bionova Scientific, a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) company headquartered in California, expanded its research and development and manufacturing operations into The Woodlands. 
• Florida-based fiber communications company Blue Stream Fiber expanded into the Houston region. Total investment including infrastructure will be $150M and the project will create 100 jobs. The company also opened office space for the administration team.
• Chenta Precision Machinery set up a new production and assembly operation to produce gearboxes for solar application and EV development.
• Creality, a Chinese 3D printer manufacturing company, established a new Houston office for sales, service, repair, and logistic warehouse for products.
• Thailand-based CZT Energy is a solar energy equipment company that is opening a manufacturing facility in Sealy, which will employ up to 135 people with a capital investment of $25 million.
• Erhardt, a maritime services company from Spain is opening an office space for their headquarters.
• Faust Distributing Company, Inc. is expanding its existing headquarters and distribution facility by adding 200,000 sq. ft., $24 million in capital investment, and 20 jobs.
• Fluence Energy, a Virginia-based, grid-scale battery company expanding to Houston region for its engineering office. 
• Fluxworks is a startup from Texas A&M University in College Station that manufactures gearboxes looking for new, larger research and development and manufacturing space. 
• Grainger, Inc., a U.S.-based Fortune 300 company seeking greenfield site for 1 million sq. ft. MRO distribution center.  This will create 300 new jobs and have a capital investment of $225 million.
• Green Way Plastics, a California-based plastic bag manufacturer recently merged with three local companies and has consolidated their warehousing, distribution, and manufacturing facilities as Phase 1 of the project. 
• Healgen Scientific LLC, a Chinese company, is opening a manufacturing facility and office headquarters to manufacture tests for Covid-19 and influenza.
• IC Star Solar LLC, a Cambodian manufacturer of PV power generation products, is opening a new manufacturing facility in Tomball for solar cells and modules, which will employ 348 people with a capital investment of $30 million. 
• IDOM is a major Spanish engineering firm that is opening its first U.S. office in Houston.
• Integra Mission Critical is a Dallas-based company will occupy the former Wayfair's site in Houston for light assembly and distribution.  This project will create 400 jobs with approximately $30 million in payroll. 
• Galveston-based, LIFT Academy expanded with a flight training academy and aircraft maintenance academy. 
• Luxecasting USA LLC is a Spain-China joint venture creating hoses, couplings, and firefighting gear for various industries. 
• MetOx International, a Houston-based, HTS Wire manufacturer is expanding its local manufacturing facilities. 
• NABOHI is a design, development, and manufacturing company based in Mexico with deep experience in sewage and wastewater treatment and with international clients in Latin America and the Middle East.
• Oriental Yuhong, a Chinese-based construction materials company, is building manufacturing plant in Houston for building materials.
• Plug and Play Tech Center is a startup accelerator looking to partner with a local community to expand to Houston.
• Poggipolini is an Italian company that produces fasteners for aerospace industry expanding to Houston by acquiring a local company.
• North Carolina-based Polyhose is a hose manufacturer opening a distribution site. 
• Polymaker, a Chinese producer of 3D printing materials, is opening a new manufacturing facility in Missouri City, which will employ 50 people with a capital investment of $4 Million.
• Polytec is an Italian robotics manufacturer is expanding their company in Houston by purchasing an office and warehouse for distribution.
• QYK Brands is the largest manufacturer of wet wipes & methyl methacrylate (MAA) with bio-chem manufacturing plant that produces 7,000 metric tons per year. The company is establishing a manufacturing facility in the Houston area with approximately 1,000 employees and $400 million in capital investment over the next three years.
• Renewable Parts Ltd. is a Scottish renewable energy part repair company establishing a facility of 15,000 sq ft. and creating approximately 18 jobs.
• California-based Solar Plus Technology Texas LLC is establishing a 200-300K sq. ft. warehouse for solar panel production and assembly facility.  The project will create 200-1,000 jobs with a capital investment of $30 million.
• TCI Cutting is a Spanish manufacturer of advanced cutting and welding machines as well as offering 3rd party cutting and welding services. 
• Texas Dow Employees Credit Union (TDECU) is consolidating their headquarters location. The project would include retaining 625 jobs and creating 175 new jobs. The new space will occupy 150,000 sq. ft. of Class A office space and have a capital investment of $20 million.
• The May Food Produce Wholesaler relocated and expanded its Houston headquarters and warehouse operations. They are purchasing land to build a produce distribution center. The project will create 50 jobs with $14.5 million in capital investment.
• Japanese company, TMEIC Corporation Americas is expanding its manufacturing capacity to the Houston area to include PV Inverters for the U.S. solar market.
• Triveni Turbine Ltd. is an India-based company that manufactures, assembles, and repairs rotating equipment for power generation. It is leasing a 38,000 sq. ft. facility. The project will create 40 jobs with $15 million in capital investment and has room for further expansion. 
• VIOTAS is an Ireland-based electric grid service company that brokers excess capacity from industrial users to other industrial users.
• Chinese supply chain management company, WIN.IT Americas is leasing a warehouse in Houston. The project will create 50 jobs with $3.5 million in capital investment.
• Bolivian National Oil Company YPFB is opening a procurement office in Houston.

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
[email protected]