Samsung Austin Semiconductor is a global manufacturer well-versed with the intricacies of doing business in Texas. But other Korean suppliers who seek to follow suit may not have it so easy.
Enter iMarket Korea, the latest Korean game-changer in Taylor, which will be setting up a technology park within the city limits along 200 acres South of U.S. 79 and east of Carlos G. Parker Boulevard, officials said.
“This is something that we have been working on for a long time,” said Mark Thomas, the president and CEO of Taylor Economic Development Corporation. “We have been looked at by a lot of suppliers, and what we have run into is a lot of suppliers have never really looked for a site, and this really helps them have certainty when they come to our area, and there is a park already built, and they can come in and know that the water will already be there, and the wastewater, the roads, and it’s owned by somebody that they already have a relationship with in Korea.”
One advantage of this particular site for the park, which will support the production of semiconductors and other advanced manufacturing facilities, is that it already fits into the current zoning of the city and its “Envision Taylor Comprehensive Plan and will be located near existing water and wastewater facilities, Thomas said.
“It was also in an area that had been called Walnut Creed Industrial Park for years, so it’s already zoned as an industrial area, and it’s in the city,” Thomas said.
Last month, Taylor entered into a nonbinding Memo of Understanding with iMarketKorea, and its subsidiary iMarketAmerica, during a weeklong trip to South Korea that was attended by Thomas, Mayor Brandt Rydell, City Manager Brian LaBorde and other county elected officials and dignitaries.
On the trip, Thomas said it was evident that Samsung has elevated the name of Taylor and that many other Korean businesses are considering coming as well.
“Everyone is looking at Taylor,” Thomas said. “It has kind of put us top of mind in so many conversations, even around the world … Even in Korea, people we talked to in the hotel, they were like, ‘Oh, you are from Taylor? That is where Samsung is, in Taylor city. It’s pretty incredible.”
The iMarket investment will add to this effect, Thomas said.
“This is a major investment in another country, and it’s being noticed by the people of Korea,” Thomas said. “The MOU signing ceremony was covered by the Korean press, and the next day it was everywhere, and that was the intended effect. We wanted to get the word out as soon as we had a real good feel that it was going to be put together. We didn’t want to go too soon and stir up a lot of interest and not be able to provide the solution that the companies are needing, but I have confidence that we have that now.”
