He and Shen Guorong (right), Chairman of Big Industries, and Governor of New Mexico, Grison (left), jointly held a press conference on the 20th. Photo Credit: Key Review Network Photo by Abby Huang
Shen Guorong, the chairman of Heda Industry, highlighted that the repercussions of a three-year-long epidemic and the Sino-US trade war have reshaped the global supply chain, causing a transition from globalization to regionalization. This transformation is the driving force behind Heda Industry’s contemplation of local parts production in the United States. Furthermore, with the burgeoning electric vehicle sector in the United States, where more than 60% of large industries’ production capacity caters to North America, it was deemed essential to relocate manufacturing operations to the U.S. as a strategic move to expand their North American presence.
Shen Guorong outlined three primary reasons for Heda Industrial’s choice of New Mexico as their investment destination:
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Geographical Advantage and Accessibility: New Mexico’s central location in the United States offers exceptional transportation convenience. The longest travel time to any U.S. destination is merely two days, while the shortest is 4-8 hours.
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Financial Incentives: New Mexico provides an array of subsidies, which translate to substantial savings on infrastructure, land acquisition, and energy expenses.
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Education and Workforce Quality: New Mexico boasts a strong educational system and training infrastructure. This enables professionally trained students to seamlessly transition into the workforce at institutions like Heda University, effectively addressing the labor shortage commonly faced in the manufacturing industry.
Heda Industrial CEO Shen Qianci, speaking with the media post-announcement, reiterated that aside from New Mexico, they evaluated Arizona, Texas, and California. New Mexico stood out primarily due to its favorable overall cost structure, with lower land prices, construction costs, water and electricity rates, and average wages. Shen Qianci underscored the growing importance of local production and supply chains in light of issues such as port congestion, container shortages, and labor deficits that disrupted global supply chains during the pandemic.
Photo of Heda Industry, New Mexico EDD, MVEDA, and the New Mexico Partnership Photo Credit: Ethan Chen
Chen Yichen, representing New Mexico’s Taipei office, emphasized the significance of New Mexico’s strategic location. It lies just two days away from Long Beach, a pivotal U.S. container port, with a rail route connecting various electric vehicle manufacturers, including Rivian, Lucid, Nikola Corporation, and Heda Industry’s customer, Tesla, which is soon to open a Giga Factory in Mexico within a day’s reach of Heda’s industrial park in New Mexico.
Chen Yichen further pointed out that while land prices escalated when TSMC established factories in Arizona and Tesla expanded into Texas, New Mexico remains comparatively more cost-effective. Situated in the heart of the southwest United States, bordering Mexico, it ranks as the fifth-largest U.S. state by land area and the fourth-largest energy supplier state. New Mexico offers the advantages of low population density, affordable land, and cost-effective water and electricity, making it a favored destination for Taiwanese companies establishing manufacturing facilities. New Mexico’s establishment of an office in Taiwan in 2021, along with the signing of an economic and trade cooperation memorandum, laid the foundation for fruitful collaboration between the two entities.
Recognizing the potential for cooperation between Taiwan and the United States, 15 U.S. state governments and one territory, including New Mexico, have established commercial offices in Taiwan. These states include Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Wyoming, West Virginia, Virginia, and Guam.
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https://www.thenewslens.com/article/192126
