ZT Systems aims to get ‘state-of-the-art’ facility off the ground quickly

A New Jersey-based company that builds equipment used for cloud computing and artificial intelligence systems has acquired a 435,000-square-foot building in Georgetown, where it plans to open a manufacturing plant that would employ at least 1,500 people by the end of the next year.

ZT Systems announced Oct. 13 its ambitions for a “state-of-the-art facility” in the city north of Austin. It purchased building six in the NorthPark 35 industrial park, which is being developed by Albuquerque-based Titan Development Ltd. near Georgetown Executive Airport.

ZT, which is headquartered in Secaucus, New Jersey, bills itself as “the leading provider of complex compute, storage and accelerator solutions for the world’s largest hyper scale cloud and telecom service providers.”

ZT Group International Inc. noted on its website that in 2013 it became a partner to some of the world’s largest cloud service providers. As of last year, it shipped hundreds of thousands of servers annually and claimed to be experiencing “year-over-year growth.”

In its announcement, the company said the “cutting-edge” facility in Georgetown will help meet the demands faced by major data center operators, many of which are growing rapidly to support cloud computing and AI-driven applications. ZT assembles, integrates, tests and deploys servers that can help companies in that regard.

“This marks a significant step forward in our company’s journey to lead our industry, enabling us to create more high-tech jobs in the US while at the same time accelerating the development of groundbreaking cloud and AI server solutions for our customers,” ZT President Doug Huang said in statement.

ZT will mark another major manufacturer moving to Georgetown. The city is located about 30 miles north of downtown Austin and last year was the fastest-growing city of its size in the country, reaching an estimated population of about 86,000, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

The city has millions of square feet of industrial space under construction, much of it already spoken for. CelLink Corp., an electric vehicle parts supplier, recently opened in another Titan industrial park right across the street, where the company said it could eventually employ around 2,000 people.

Joe Iannacone, Texas-based partner at Titan Development, said in a statement that the building purchased by ZT Systems was the largest building in NorthPark 35. The developer said that they plan to begin construction on the final remaining lot. All the land adjacent to Interstate 35 in the park is zoned commercial and they plan on developing that starting next year.

“With five buildings complete and two buildings currently under construction, all seven buildings in NorthPark35 have been leased or sold to an end user,” Iannacone said.

Other companies that have leased space or purchased land and buildings in the park include auto parts supplier Texas Speed & Performance Ltd.; The Greater Austin Merchants Cooperative Association; Valex Corp., which builds parts for the semiconductor supply chain; and Aeronet, which provides logistics solutions and freight services.

ZT does not plan to pursue public incentives for the project.

“The city of Georgetown and Williamson County win again,” Williamson County Judge Bill Gravell said. “We’re so grateful for ZT’s investment.”

Click here for the article source.