In short:
- Company says the bigger factory will “mitigate the impact” of tariffs.
- The site will open in San Antonio next year and add up to 1,500 jobs.
- JCB, founded in 1945, is a global leader in heavy equipment.
JCB, the UK-Based maker of heavy equipment, says it is now expanding the size of a planned factory in San Antonio, Texas to one million square feet. The company says tariffs are the reason why.
“In the short term, the imposition of tariffs will have a significant impact on our business,” JCB CEO Graeme Macdonald said. “However, in the medium term, our planned factory in San Antonio will help to mitigate the impact,”
Although the April 2025 announcement on JCB’s website mentions the facility was originally planned to be 500,000 square feet, a press release from 2023 mentioned it would be 720,000 square feet in size. No matter the true original number, the final product will be much larger.
The factory, which sits on 400 acres in San Antonio, is expected to be complete and begin production sometime next year. JCB targeted the site after “recognising the need to produce even more machines in North America,” per their April 2025 announcement.
“North America is integral to the growth and success of JCB’s business in the future and the time is now right for JCB to expand its manufacturing presence there,” Macdonald said about the San Antonio factory back in 2023. “Texas is a vibrant and growing economy, and the State offers great advantages in terms of a central location, as well as good highway and port access, The city of San Antonio also has a well-established skills base, which makes it a very attractive place to set up a factory.”
This will be JCB’s second facility in the United States. Its manufacturing plant in Savannah, Georgia also serves as North American headquarters and employs around 1,000 people.
JCB estimates that the $500 million San Antonio location will create up to 1,500 new jobs.
The company began in 1945, manufacturing tipping trailers for farmwork. In the 80 years since, it has opened 22 plants across four continents and sells backhoes, excavators, diesel engines and generators, and other kinds of heavy construction equipment and agricultural machines worldwide. Its global influence is large enough that the Oxford English Dictionary lists “JCB” as a general term for earth moving equipment.
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