(The Center Square) – More companies with multi-million and billion-dollar valuations are expanding operations in Texas on the taxpayer’s dime. The latest is a biomanufacturing company in north Texas and a semiconductor plant in central Texas.
NTxBio is expanding biomanufacturing operations at a facility in Plano, receiving a taxpayer-funded Texas Enterprise Fund grant of nearly $1.5 million to do so. The Sante Fe-based company manufactures pharmaceutical-grade raw materials used to develop RNA and protein therapeutics. It says it’s making a $31 million capital investment in the facility and will create more than 170 new jobs.
“Texas is the epicenter for groundbreaking, life-saving medical research and home to thousands of biotech and life science firms,” Gov. Greg Abbott said. NTx is leading “to advancing the healthcare industry in Texas with their next generation biomanufacturing solutions. Working together, we will keep Texas on the cutting edge of biotech research and development and save more lives.”
NTx President and CEO Dr. Jamie Coffin said expanding operation at a new facility in Plano was important to “keep up with demand for NTx’s biomanufacturing platforms. Texas has a booming biotech community and an incredible talent pool in biological and chemical engineering, and we look forward to being part of that ecosystem.”
The facility is opening in partnership with the city of Plano and the state “to augment our next-generation R&D facility in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. In both facilities, NTx will assemble cutting-edge biomanufacturing instruments that use domestically produced raw materials to advance treatments for cancer and rare diseases while bringing manufacturing and jobs back to the U.S.,” Coffin said.
Mayor John Muns said the “new cutting-edge R&D lab will not only drive the company’s expansion across North America but also revolutionize the discovery and production of biologic materials. Plano is a thriving hub for corporate innovation, and NTx is yet another industry leader driving the future of next generation biomanufacturing solutions.”
NTxBio isn’t the first company in north Texas to benefit from taxpayer funds.
Last year, the Plano City Council approved a development agreement for a $4 billion Texas Research Quarter, a life science innovation district. It approved reimbursing Dallas-based developer NexPoint $15 million over a period of 25 years through a tax increment reinvestment zone, The Dallas Morning News first reported.
In Killeen, Mesa, Ariz.-based MGC Pure Chemicals America, Inc. (MPCA) is the latest to receive a Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund grant to expand its production facility. The subsidiary of Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company, Inc., MPCA has been operating in the U.S. for nearly 30 years. It produces a range of chemicals and materials, including super pure hydrogen peroxide and ammonium hydroxide, used to remove micro-dust particles and organic matter from semiconductor chips. It says it’s making a $150 million capital investment to create another 130,000 square feet of production space.
Abbott argues the TSIF is necessary for Texas to invest “in critical supply chain resilience to ensure the semiconductor chips we rely on to drive innovation and fuel our economy are made in Texas.” The expansion of the MPCA Killeen facility “will help meet the growing demand for specialty chemicals that are essential for the manufacturing of high-quality semiconductor chips” and ensure Texas continues “to lead America’s resurgence in semiconductor manufacturing,” he said.
Texas taxpayer funds “will advance the expansion of our existing plant in Killeen,” MPCA General Manager Lee Bauer said, adding that it’s “committed to accelerating the growth of Central Texas as a semiconductor production cluster and strengthen the overall stability and continuity of the U.S. semiconductor supply chain.”
State Rep. Hillary Hickland, whose district includes Killeen, said the grant money “is a strategic investment in both our regional economy and our national security” because it will create jobs and “underscores the vital need to continually advance our state’s global dominance and leadership in America’s semiconductor industry.”
Through the Texas CHIPS Act, nearly $700 million worth of taxpayer grants is being awarded through the TSIF, The Center Square reported. So far, grant money has been awarded to companies with multi-billion-dollar valuations, The Center Square reported.
