Plano leaders tour Asia to promote city’s business ties

Plano’s Asia pitch is already written into Collin County’s business map: Toyota at Legacy West, Samsung on Legacy Drive and Delta Electronics on Data Drive. City leaders went overseas to protect that base and try to turn it into the next wave of jobs, offices and tax revenue.

A five-person delegation traveled through Japan, Taiwan and South Korea from March 28 through April 11, with Mayor John Muns, City Manager Mark Israelson, Deputy City Manager Doug McDonald, Economic Development Director Michael Talley and International Business Manager Meelis Anton making the trip. The city said the group met with leaders from more than a dozen companies, visited current investors and looked for employers that could expand in Plano or move there.

The sales pitch rested on a record Plano has already built. Toyota Motor North America opened its Plano headquarters in July 2017 after a site-selection process that considered more than 100 locations, then consolidated employees from California, New York, Michigan and Kentucky into one campus. Samsung Electronics America announced a Networks Innovation Center at its Plano headquarters in 2023, giving customers and partners a closer look at its network technologies. Delta Electronics already operates a 435,000-square-foot research, development and manufacturing facility at 601 Data Drive, and in December 2024 it announced a major expansion that would add two 477,000-square-foot manufacturing facilities and a 90,000-square-foot office building.

If built as planned, Delta’s Plano footprint could reach nearly 1.5 million square feet and employ more than 1,500 people by 2031. Local reporting has described that project as potentially the largest manufacturing investment in Plano history, a reminder that the city’s overseas recruiting is aimed at high-dollar projects, not symbolic visits.

Talley said the trip was designed to keep long-term relationships strong in markets that have already shown a willingness to grow in Collin County. Plano’s own economic development dashboard says the city has intentionally pursued projects to make it the epicenter of economic development in Collin County and North Texas, and the Asia tour fits that strategy: use personal ties, repeated visits and existing anchor employers to bring in the next round of corporate commitments.

That work also included a stop in Seoul in early April, where Muns and Israelson visited SK Signet’s R&D center and ultra-fast charging technology facilities and discussed future collaboration tied to North American charging infrastructure. For Plano, the test will not be the flight path. It will be whether the trip translates into announced expansions, relocations and a bigger local tax base.