Successes and Announcements

Office Depot, a leading global provider of office supplies and services headquartered in Boca Raton, FL, announced plans to locate its new inside sales organization in Austin. The project will result in the creation of more than 200 jobs and serve Office Depot’s small business customers. The project is receiving an award from the Texas Enterprise Fund as well as incentives from Williamson County.

Altera Corporation announces its establishment of a new research and development center in Southwest Austin. The San Jose-based company expects to hire several hundred employees in the coming years, most of whom will be engineers.

eBay Inc., a world-wide leader in online commerce, will expand its business operations center in Austin, adding an additional 1,000 jobs over the next 10 years. The state’s Texas Enterprise Fund will invest $2.8 million into the expansion which is expected to generate an estimated $5.1 million in capital investment. In addition to the TEF award, the City of Austin approved a $1.2 million incentive grant. eBay connects millions of buyers and sellers globally through eBay.com, the world’s largest online marketplace, and PayPal, which enables individuals and businesses to securely, easily and quickly make and receive online payments. This TEF investment will facilitate the expansion of various eBay business units, including the PayPal Data Services business unit currently in Austin. Click here for the City of Austin's complete announcement.

SunPower Corporation's decision to create 450 jobs and invest nearly $10 million in Central Texas marks one of the largest 2010 wins for the Austin Chamber and its economic development initiative, Opportunity Austin.

National Scooter Co. relocates global headquarters, brings more than 100 jobs to Pflugerville, Texas. Triple Freeport exemption helps automotive company move manufacturing from China to Pflugerville.

Facebook announces plans for a 200-person online sales and operations center in Austin.

LegalZoom announced plans to locate its regional headquarters in Austin, Texas. This expansion will result in the creation of 600 jobs for Central Texas residents.

Vancouver, Canada's Absolute Software, the leading provider of firmware-based, patented, computer theft recovery, data protection and secure IT asset management solutions has opened their U.S. HQ in Austin, Texas.

Red Oxygen, one of the world’s leading developers and distributors of enterprise text messaging software applications and services, has made plans to open their American headquarters in Austin, Texas.

ArtistForce.com, the Los Angeles-based business platform and professional marketplace for the live entertainment industry, has announced the decision to consolidate and relocate its sales, marketing and software development teams from L.A. and Chicago to Austin.

Twisted Pixel Games, an Indiana-based independent gaming studio focused on producing top-quality original titles for digital distribution on numerous gaming consoles, has announced its decision to relocate its game development studio to Austin.

HelioVolt, an Austin-based company which produces sunlight-converting, ultra thin 'film' modules and materials for implementation in metals, plastic, glass and other materials that can be integrated into the construction of buildings, has announced its decision to locate its first full-scale solar manufacturing plant in Austin.

Thumtronics, a music technology company from Australia, has relocated to Austin. The company selected Austin over other computing technology centers like Silicon Valley, Seattle and Boston due to Austin's character as a city that understands the cultural and economic power of music.

Borland Software Corporation, the global leader in Open Application Lifecycle Management (ALM), announced that it will relocate its corporate headquarters from Cupertino, California to Austin, Texas.

Merkatum Corporation, a leading provider of biometric technology software and services, announced that it will be relocating its North American corporate headquarters from Miami to Austin. Company officials say the move is intended to help them effectively service U.S. customers from a centrally located, well-established technology center.

TECO-Westinghouse Motor Co., a Round Rock-based manufacturer of electric motors, recently announced that it will be creating up to 150 new jobs. The manufacturer has announced a partnership with California-based Composite Technology Corp., to produce wind turbine components at TECO-Westinghouse’s facility in Round Rock.

CompassLearning, a leading education technology solutions company, announced that it will be relocating its corporate headquarters from San Diego to Austin. The company will move into a 43,000-square-foot space on Colorado Street in downtown Austin next to the Austin Children's Museum.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world’s second largest chip maker, announced on Friday that the company will invest $3.5 billion in a new 300mm semiconductor plant and create nearly 1,000 new jobs in Austin. Samsung’s announcement is the largest single investment by a foreign company in the United States. This is the first 300mm fab in Central Texas with only six in existence or under construction in the United States. The new facility will create advanced technology chips.

Successful regional efforts were the driving force behind the recent announcement that Accurate Elastomer Products, Inc. is relocating to Elgin, Texas. The Greater Austin Chamber recruited AEP to the greater Austin area, took company officials to Elgin for a site visit and continued to be part of the effort throughout completion of the project.

Silicon chip producer Toppan Photomasks Inc. is making a $30 million investment in Round Rock, installing new equipment on its 20-acre campus that will allow semiconductor manufacturers to build smaller and faster microchips.

The Texas Legislature approved, and the Governor has signed, a bill that will give extended life and a cash transfusion to the Texas Enterprise Fund, the state’s premiere incentive fund for new and expanding businesses. Legislation also created an additional fund, the Emerging Technology Fund, aimed at encouraging and expanding research and commercializing new products in Texas.

Freescale Semiconductor CEO Michel Mayer announced April 1 that the company has selected Austin for its global headquarters, despite fierce competition from other cities and states around the world, including Chicago, Phoenix and Dallas-Fort Worth. The newly independent company plans to invest about $600 million and create about 500 new jobs during the next 10 years.

US Aquaculture’s new $5 million, 60,000 square toot facility, employing 20-30, will produce environmentally pure, organically raised fish that will be available to customers within hours of being packaged. The Taylor location is the first of eight production facilities the company will open nationwide.

In November, the message went out to a select audience that the five-county Austin region is abundantly supplied with workforce talent—thanks to a "world-class research university" and more than 100,000 college students to replenish the workforce.

Austin was the place to be for key location consultants from across the country between October 3 and October 5, 2004. The three-day long "Take Us for a Spin" themed-event was an invitation-only planned event that showcased the region's attractions and aimed to prove why Austin tops the lists when cities are ranked for business, climate, creativity and quality of life.

Construction is underway and interviews have started for the 500 new jobs available at The Home Depot Technology Center. In late July the world's largest home improvement retailer decided to locate its new technology center here.

Bernard C. Harris Publishing Company, Inc., the market leader in providing customized affinity-based solutions for educational institutions and membership organizations, is expanding its presence in Austin, adding at least 150 new jobs to its current employee base.

The first business recruited under the Opportunity Austin banner, TASUS Corporation of Bloomington, Ind., has announced that it will locate in Georgetown, providing 100 jobs and an initial investment of $6 million that will grow in later years to $13 million.