Japanese company Sanko broke ground on a new Southside facility Wednesday, adding to the area’s reputation as a manufacturing hub.
The proposed $40 million factory could employ as many as 300 people, according to company officials, and will be built on a 43.7-acre property on the corner of Applewhite and Watson roads, across the street from the entrance to Toyota’s South Side manufacturing facility.
The factory is in the design stage right now, said Sanko president and CEO Toshihiko Goto. He said it would be completed in 2027.
Sanko makes plastic pallets and containers for logistics operations.
It’s the latest Japanese company to set up shop in San Antonio. Bexar County officials offered the company a 10-year tax abatement in June 2025, valued at $850,000.
Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai said the tax incentives, a 75% tax abatement on real and personal property investments over the course of a decade, were worth it.
“The return on investment with that money is astronomical,” he said. “Look at what we’re going to do here by bringing high paying jobs.”
Documents submitted by the company said Sanko could hire 50 employees with salaries of $60,000 or more by using the savings the incentives provide.
Sakai is a sansei, or third-generation Japanese American, and said he has pushed to connect with Japanese business leaders. He spoke with Sanko leaders during a 2024 economic development trip to the country and pitched them on San Antonio’s infrastructure and growth on the South Side, as well as TX Fast Track, the county’s workforce education program.
The program is one of San Antonio’s workforce programs focused on manufacturing roles. Graduates of the program have been hired by companies like JCB, which is building a factory near Sanko’s site, and County Clerk Lucy Adame Clerk allocated more funding last year to expand the program.
Sanko plans to supply plastic products to Toyota, Goto added. Toyota currently uses imported Sanko products at its San Antonio facility, he said, and local production of those products could be beneficial.
Sanko has an office in San Diego and a factory in Mexico, according to the company’s website but this is the company’s first U.S. factory. Goto said Sanko was eager to build recognition and relationships in San Antonio as the Japanese manufacturer targets the Texas market.
“The top priority is business development here in Texas first,” Goto said through a translator. “Then [we] would like to expand to the United States.”
Manufacturing grows on the South Side
City and county officials talked up the South Side’s growing advanced manufacturing industry at the groundbreaking. Toyota broke ground in 2003 and started operations at the 3,700-employee factory in 2006.
The Japanese carmaker plans to open a new rear axle plant this year.
Other Toyota suppliers flocked to the area since the company’s arrival. Now, more manufacturers are coming to the South Side.
British construction equipment company JCB is building a factory nearby and Silicon Valley manufacturer Industrial Electric Manufacturing is considering could build a 1 million-square-foot facility at Brooks.
“There hasn’t been a lot of development here, but now Toyota and JCB have a good neighbor,” said County Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores (Precinct 1), who represents the area. “Projects like these support small businesses and strengthen the workforce.”
Sakai said he is committed to supporting education and infrastructure in the area, though the Bexar County Judge, who is in a tight race for reelection, said he wanted to do that without raising property taxes.
Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones also spoke after the groundbreaking.
“These are the kinds of good-paying jobs we want in our community,” she said.
Jones said San Antonio’s growing manufacturing workforce, affordability and quality of life are attracting foreign investment. She added that affordable housing and infrastructure projects like the South Texas Parkway were important, as well.
“I would argue we’re a little bit behind, but we’ve got to do as much as we can to address some of the traffic concerns,” she said. “The more that we can show that our infrastructure can support that, I think the more competitive we’ll be.”
