Maruichi stainless tube plant will be built in Seguin.

Maruichi Stainless Steel Texas Corp. announced plans to build a $75 million plant in Seguin. Its Japanese-owned parent company operates this plant in Oregon, and facilities in California and Chicago.

Another manufacturing plant is coming to Seguin — the Central Texas city that's gradually becoming an industrial powerhouse.

The latest is Japanese-owned manufacturer Maruichi Stainless Tube Texas Corp., which is building a $75 million factory to pump out stainless steel precision tube for use in the semiconductor industry.

Seguin officials said Wednesday the plant will employ 106 workers within two years. The 125,000-square-foot facility will be built on 33 acres just south of I-10 on the northwest side of Seguin, within the burgeoning Rio Nogales Industrial Park.

Construction is set to begin in early 2023 and the plant could be in operation by the first quarter of 2024.

"Maruichi is very excited to expand our manufacturing operations in Seguin," said Takashi Onishi, president of Maruichi Stainless Tube Co. He credited the city's "strategic location, access to a skilled workforce, and the partnership and genuine support we’ve received" from Seguin Economic Development Corp., City Council and city staff.

Seguin, a sleepy town surrounded by agricultural fields and dwarfed by next-door neighbor New Braunfels, has built itself into a manufacturing hub in recent years. In Guadalupe County — where Seguin is the county seat — 23 percent of workers are employed in manufacturing compared with 8 percent of workers statewide, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The factory will be built next to a United Alloy metal fabrication plant and Niagara Bottling plant. CPS Energy's Rio Nogales natural gas-fired power plant and a Teijin Automotive factory, which produces bed liners for the San Antonio-built Toyota Tundra pickup, are in the same industrial park.

Maruichi Stainless Steel Texas Corp. announced plans to build a $75 million plant in Seguin. Its Japanese-owned parent company operates this plant in Oregon, and facilities in California and Chicago.

"Maruichi's investment will help diversify and strengthen Seguin's rapidly growing manufacturing industry," said Josh Schneuker, executive director of Seguin Economic Development Corp. "Economic development is a team sport, and today's announcement would not be possible if it were not for the collaboration between the SEDC, the city, and our regional partner greater:SATX."

Maruichi said the plant will produce seamless precision tubing for customers to manufacture semiconductors, which are used in a wide range of products. Such tubing is used to deliver gases during the manufacturing process, which spark chemical reactions on chip wafers. A global shortage of semiconductors has hamstrung industrial production around the world over the past year, particularly at automotive factories.

"The Seguin facility will help Maruichi further meet demand in the United States from multiple construction projects for large-scale semiconductor manufacturing plants," Seguin officials said in a statement.

The Seguin City Council and SEDC approved a grant of an undisclosed amount to the company. Maruichi must meet its investment, hiring and payroll targets to receive the payment.

Beyond the Rio Nogales Industrial Park, a Vitesco Technologies factory that produces automotive power trains sits about two miles north and employs 1,500 people. Meanwhile, Caterpillar Inc. operates an engine factory in Seguin. It opened in 2008.

Manufacturing jobs in Seguin pay more than the average wage in Guadalupe County. Manufacturing workers earned about $61,000 in 2021, according to the BLS, compared to average annual earnings of about $50,000 for all other workers there.

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