Texas Border Businesses
Austin, Texas – Governor Greg Abbott today congratulated the State of Texas on once again receiving Area Development magazine’s Gold Shovel Award. Texas is recognized as a pioneer in attracting high-value economic development projects that create thousands of new jobs among the most populous states. This is the 11th Gold Shovel award for Texas. Texas has received a Gold or Silver Shovel award every year for the 19 years since the awards program was implemented.
“Texas has once again won the gold medal when it comes to attracting high-value business investments that create good-paying jobs for hard-working Texans across our great state,” said Governor Abbott. “I am proud that Texas has once again been recognized with Area Development magazine’s Gold Shovel Award and congratulate our local, regional and statewide economic development partners on this achievement. Texas gives innovative companies the freedom to expand and thrive, and each region has its own unique advantages, and we look forward to continuing to work with our communities to build an even bigger and better Texas.”
Area Development magazine recognized $21 billion in high-value expansion or location projects in Texas. The magazine also named ZT Systems in Georgetown, Texas, a cloud computing manufacturing facility that will create as many as 1,500 jobs, as project of the year. Other economic development investments in Texas noted by the magazine include $185 million by Toppan Photomasks Inc. in a semiconductor-related manufacturing operation in Round Rock, $600 million by Google in a Dallas-area data center, $375 million by Tesla in a lithium refinery in Robstown, and $1 billion by Graphic Packaging International in Waco.
Area Development’s annual Shovel Awards recognizes states for their success in attracting high-value investment projects that create significant numbers of new jobs in their communities. Rankings are weighted based on a variety of factors, including the number of new jobs created relative to the state’s population, total business investment, number of new facilities and industry diversity.
See the full area development rankings.
