Council OKs deal for National Instruments
National Instruments expansion would create 1,000 local jobs.
National Instruments Corp.won approval for $1.7 million in city of Austin incentives to support the company’s proposed expansion of 1,000 Austin jobs over the next 10 years.
National Instruments Corp. won approval Thursday for $1.7 million in city of Austin incentives to support the company’s proposed expansion of 1,000 Austin jobs over the next 10 years.
The pioneering Austin tech company is expected to hire more tech workers, including hardware engineers and software developers, to support its plans to continue its development of hardware and software systems to assist the world’s scientists and engineers.
The City Council voted 7-0 to approve the incentives deal Thursday evening. The city’s incentives will be equal to 50 percent of the actual new real and personal property taxes generated by the project between 2013 and 2022.
Company spokeswoman Stacy Schmitt thanked the council for its vote, but deferred further comment until the Travis County commissioners vote on their proposed incentives for the project. They are expected to do so next week.
The Texas Governor’s Office already has said it will back National Instruments’ expan- sion with $4.4 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund. Travis County also is considering $1.3 million in incentives.
The site selection is competitive with Penang, Malaysia, where the company has operations, according to papers filed with the city of Austin.
The company is proposing to invest $80 million to build and equip a 300,00-squarefoot office building next to its
existing campus at 11500 N. MoPac Blvd. (Loop 1) for the expansion project. The average annual wage for new jobs is estimated at $72,223.
The company, which was started in 1976, already employs more than 2,400 workers in Austin and more than 6,800 worldwide. It had sales of more than $1.1 billion last year.
The expansion would place National Instruments among the handful of the largest technology employers in the area, trailing Dell Inc., Apple Inc., IBM Corp. and Freescale Semiconductor.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry said the expansion At its meeting Thursday, the Austin City Council also:
Approved a two-year, $180,000 agreement with the Alamo Area Council of Governments to help establish a project to reduce barriers to the use of clean, domestic, alternative fuels and renewable-fuel vehicles.
Approved a $100,000 agreement with Travis County for work on a joint wildfire protection plan.
Agreed to back state legislation that could help local animal shelters, animal health or veterinary medicine.
Agreed to urge the Legislature to spend $135 million from a settlement with mortgage companies on housing-related activities. project could “bolster Austin’s status as a hub for research, development and innovation.”
The company says it sells its systems to more than 35,000 companies every year for use in academic research, alternative energy projects, aerospace and defense, automobile development, consumer electronics, life sciences, semiconductor development and wireless systems.
Economic development experts have praised the deal because it shows that local companies can qualify for the types of expansion incentives that companies such as Apple, Visa Inc. and Facebook Inc. have received.
Visa won approval late last year for state and city incentives for its new software development center at 12301 Research Blvd. Visa, which proposed to create 794 new jobs by 2017, got approval for $7.9 million in state incentives