Central Texas Global Business Pulse - March 16th 2025 - Big Plan

Central Texas Global Business Pulse

Big Plan Highlights

Big Plan’s CEO had the honor of serving as a mentor at SXSW 2025, sharing insights and guidance with emerging entrepreneurs and industry leaders. The event also provided an exciting opportunity to meet with Margaret Fong, Executive Director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, to discuss strengthening trade and investment ties between Texas and Hong Kong.

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News & Updates

International

From Champagne to Bourbon, Alcohol Lands on Front Lines of Global Trade War

Alcohol has landed on the front lines of a global trade war, throwing French wines, Irish whiskeys, Kentucky bourbon, Japanese beer and Mexican tequila into the crossfire between the U.S. and its biggest trading partners.

In the Canadian province of Ontario, liquor stores have cleared their shelves of California wine and Tennessee whiskey, replacing them with local varieties and signs declaring: “For the good of Canada.” A restaurant wine director in Washington state is dreading the arrival of shipping containers full of European wine so expensive it’s unsellable. The Kentucky governor is pleading for the survival of his bourbon industry. And makers of American sparkling wines are poised to make a windfall.

President Trump on Thursday opened a new front, threatening a 200% tariff on U.S. imports of all alcoholic beverages from the European Union. Trump’s salvo was a response to the EU’s decision to move forward on a 50% levy on American whiskey.

Global equity funds see declining demand on escalating trade tensions

Global equity funds saw weaker demand in the week through March 12, amid a global stock sell-off driven by concerns over U.S. tariffs and its escalating trade wars. Investors put just $3.21 billion into global equity funds for the week, sharply down from an average weekly inflow of $11.6 billion in February, LSEG Lipper data shows.

European equity funds faced the heaviest selling during the week, as the EU's retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods heightened trade tensions, leading to investors withdrawing a net $5.29 billion — the first net outflow in eight weeks.

Investors Want a Piece of DeepSeek. Its Founder Says Not Now.

The founder of Chinese artificial-intelligence star DeepSeek has rejected proposals to make quick money from his programs, telling prospective investors that he wants to keep the science-project ethos that brought him global renown.

Overwhelmed by millions of users, DeepSeek’s chatbot has frequent service hiccups, and authorities around the world are restricting its use over data-security concerns. The U.S. is weighing measures including banning DeepSeek from government devices. Other internet companies are using the free DeepSeek code to drive their own businesses.

Yet founder Liang Wenfeng has told associates he isn’t in a hurry to get investment, fearing that outsiders would interfere in DeepSeek’s decisions, people familiar with the matter said. He is also cautious about government-linked investors, they said, because he believes the connection to Beijing could make it harder to win global adoption of DeepSeek’s AI models.

China's new AI model 'Manus' creates global buzz, challenges OpenAI, Google

China has introduced another powerful artificial intelligence (AI) model, called Manus, just weeks after DeepSeek’s launch, underscoring the country’s accelerating push into the AI race. Developed by the Chinese startup Monica, Manus is being compared to the top AI systems created by OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. The company claims the model is a general-purpose AI capable of executing tasks autonomously, without human supervision.

What is Manus?

Manus is an advanced AI agent designed to think, plan, and execute real-world tasks on its own. It can create websites, plan trips, analyse stocks, and much more — just from a single user prompt. Unlike standard AI chatbots, which provide answers, Manus takes full action to complete tasks. For example, if asked to create a report on climate change, it will research, write the report, create charts, and compile everything into a final document without needing further instructions.

USA

SBA Announces Made in America Manufacturing Initiative

Today, U.S. Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler announced the agency’s new Made in America Manufacturing Initiative to restore American economic dominance and national security by empowering small manufacturers. The agency’s effort will support President Trump’s agenda to create good-paying jobs, secure our supply chains, promote fair trade, and bring back the blue-collar boom of his first Administration.

About 99% of American manufacturers are small businesses, who are already experiencing a resurgence under the President’s pro-growth agenda. The country gained 10,000 manufacturing jobs during his first full month in office — a swift turnaround after losing an average of 9,000 manufacturing jobs per month in the final year of the previous Administration.

Immigration accounts for entire US population growth for first time

All U.S. population growth in 2022-23 happened because of immigration, not births — the first time that’s occurred since 1850, a migration think tank reported Wednesday.

That immigration growth has happened as U.S. birth rates have fallen, the Migration Policy Institute reported as part of its latest edition of “Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States.”

The immigrant population grew by 1.6 million people between 2022 and 2023, reaching a record high of 47.8 million in 2023, according to the analysis. That’s about a 3.6% population increase, the largest annual growth since 2010, the institute stated in its report.

Texas

Gov. Greg Abbott awards Round Rock semiconductor supplier $2M in Texas CHIPS Act funding

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott awarded a $2 million Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund to Round Rock-based semiconductor supplier KoMiCo Technology.

Abbott announced Thursday that KoMiCo would receive the fourth TSIF grant for its facility in Round Rock, located at 201 Michel Angelo Way, just past North Austin. According to Abbott, the funding will support the creation of 70 new jobs and a $36 million capital investment.

“Texas is leading the American resurgence in semiconductor manufacturing and making strategic investments to secure critical domestic supply chains,” Abbott said in the statement Thursday. “KoMiCo’s $36 million investment to expand their clean room capacity and production lines in Round Rock supports increased chip production right here in Texas."

SpaceX to make $280M investment in Bastrop facility, awarded Texas grant

SpaceX is set to invest more than $280 million in its Bastrop manufacturing facility, and a grant from the new Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund will help fund the endeavor.

Gov. Greg Abbott announced on March 12 that Elon Musk-led SpaceX will get $17.3 million to expand its semiconductor research and advanced packaging facility in Bastrop. The expansion will include $280 million in capital investments by SpaceX and create more than 400 jobs, Abbott said.

He said SpaceX's new square footage "will be the largest of its kind in North America.”

Austin

Chipmaker NXP ends Austin economic deal and $290M plans, seeks new state project funding

Global semiconductor company NXP backed out of an economic development agreement with Austin just over a year after City Council agreed to the plan to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in the chipmaker's Southwest and East Austin campuses.

No local improvements or community benefits were completed before the deal was canceled due to issues with federal funding. Although that's not moving ahead, NXP has recently petitioned for millions of state dollars for other Texas projects.

New program aims to attract international firms to Austin

The Austin area is no stranger to international companies, but a new effort is aimed at enticing more of them.

Opportunity Austin, a regional economic development organization, recently announced it has started the Global Austin Launch Pad, a program to provide class A office space, a support network and strategic guidance to international companies relocating or establishing a presence in Central Texas.

The program already has attracted one company — Polish IT consulting firm ITFS Solutions. That business has locations in Seattle and Chicago in addition to Austin, according to its website.

Austin metro tops 2.5M residents

The Austin metro gained an average of about 159 people a day from 2023 to 2024. While that may sound like a lot, it's down slightly from a growth rate of 171 a day during the previous 12-month period.

According to new figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, the metro's population climbed by about 2.3% from July 2023 to July 2024, an addition of 58,019 people that brings its total to 2.55 million — the first time it has topped the 2.5 million mark. That factors in everything including people who move here, babies born here and deaths.

At 2.3% growth, that's a slight decline from the 2.6% clocked in the previous 12-month period, when the metro — which consists of Travis, Williamson, Bastrop, Hays and Caldwell counties — added 62,243 people.

Opportunities

Small-business grants you can apply for in March 2025

61 Grants, Loans and Programs to Benefit Your Small Business

Events

Solar + Wind Finance & Investment (March 16-19, 2025)

U.S. Mexico Supply Chain Summit in El Paso Texas (March 27, 2025)

ERCOT Innovation Summit (May 6th, 2025)

IEEE Energy Conversion Congress & Expo (Oct 19 - 23, 2025)

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