Austin Chamber of Commerce Announces Winners of 2013 International Awards

The Austin Chamber of Commerce, in cooperation with GlobalAustin, the City of Austin, and the State of Texas, is pleased to announce the winners of the Third Annual International Awards that took place May 22, 2013 at the Hilton Austin. State and local officials, business leaders, and educational institutions gathered to recognize members of the Texas Consular Corps and other high ranking officials representing countries including Croatia, Egypt, Germany, India, Mexico, Russia, and Thailand among others. The program included remarks from Secretary of State John Steen; Mayor Lee Leffingwell; Representative Mark Strama and Former Secretary of State Geoff Connor.

“Austin’s global impact is ever increasing, and companies around the world have noticed,” remarked Dave Porter, Senior Vice President of Economic Development, Austin Chamber. “In 2012, the Austin region had 134 international delegations visit the city to pursue business opportunities with local companies. From 2006 to 2011, 53 foreign companies have invested more than $8 billion in Central Texas via 59 new projects that created over 5,000 jobs.”

The award for Top Foreign Direct Investment in 2012 went to Samsung Austin Semiconductor. For over 70 years, Samsung has been dedicated to making a better world by providing advanced technology, semiconductors, skyscraper and plant constructions, petrochemicals and more. Samsung Austin Semiconductor first opened a facility in Austin in 1996. Since that time, Samsung has invested more than $13 billion in Austin. In August 2012, Samsung announced it would invest $4 billion to meet the rapidly growing demands for logic products in renovating the existing fab to accommodate full System LSI production. This expansion marks the largest single foreign investment ever made in the State of Texas.

Their flagship company, Samsung Electronics, leads the global market in high-tech electronics manufacturing and digital media. Samsung Austin Semiconductor (SAS) is owned by Samsung Electronics and is the company’s only semiconductor manufacturing plant located outside Korea.

“International trade is crucial for economic prosperity. Austin and Texas celebrate the success of our economy in a significant part thanks to the role of international business,” Porter added. “The Austin Chamber urges local businesses to break into the international market and continue to strengthen our regional economy.”

Companies presented with Austin International Awards were as follows:

Small Business Export Award: Fabworx Solutions Inc., an engineering firm focused on wafer handling aspects of semiconductor production equipment

Medium Business Export Award: Durcon Incorporated, a global leader in manufacturing of laboratory-grade work surfaces

Large Business Export Award: Freescale Semiconductor, a global leader in embedded processing solutions to advance the automotive, consumer, industrial and networking markets

International Services Export Award: Bridge360, a custom software and application development company working within all phases of the software development cycle

The top direct foreign investment company was identified by the Austin Chamber of Commerce. The export awards were evaluated and scored by the Texas Camino Real District Export Council leadership to determine which of these export companies in manufacturing and services have made significant advances in penetrating international markets and had a high percentage of sales growth due to exporting. Service companies were evaluated on their expansion of an international customer base and assistance in expanding the export business of others.

This annual event highlights and promotes the importance of international trade to the Austin metropolitan area economy and memorializes Austin international activities during World Trade Month – an annual nationwide celebration of international trade.