AllianceTexas continues to cement its status as one of North Texas’ fastest-growing manufacturing and aviation hubs.
Within six days this month, the 27,000-acre Fort Worth development celebrated the opening of two major facilities: a $120 million aircraft engine maintenance campus from Germany’s MTU Maintenance and Foxlink Group’s first U.S. AI-powered manufacturing facility. Together, the projects are expected to create roughly 2,100 jobs while deepening AllianceTexas’ foothold in two industries Hillwood has spent years cultivating.
The announcements add to the development’s growing roster of advanced manufacturing and aerospace companies. Since 1989, AllianceTexas has attracted more than 600 companies, generated an estimated $142.9 billion in regional economic impact, and created more than 73,000 direct jobs.
Aviation Momentum
MTU Maintenance, the maintenance arm of German engine manufacturer MTU Aero Engines, officially opened its first U.S. maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facility at Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport earlier this month.
The nearly 463,000-square-foot operation occupies the former American Airlines maintenance complex, where MTU plans to invest more than $120 million upgrading the campus. Once fully built out, the facility is expected to employ more than 1,200 people, primarily aircraft mechanics and technicians trained on-site.
The shop will initially service LEAP engines used on next-generation narrowbody aircraft before eventually expanding to the GEnx engine platform.
For Hillwood, landing MTU represents years of work building AllianceTexas into an aviation maintenance destination.
“When we developed Perot Field Alliance Airport, attracting maintenance, repair and overhaul providers was always one of our goals,” Bill Burton, Hillwood’s executive vice president of marketing and development, said. “These are very capital-intensive projects that require highly specialized facilities.”
Burton said the site’s existing engine test cell—left behind when American Airlines vacated the property—helped make the location especially attractive to MTU.
The company joins a growing aviation cluster at AllianceTexas that includes Gulfstream Aerospace, Embraer, AVX Aircraft, and startup Aerolane.
AI Manufacturing Arrives
Less than a week later, Taiwan-based Foxlink Group officially opened its new 147,780-square-foot manufacturing facility at Alliance Gateway.
The facility, scheduled to begin production in August, will manufacture printed circuit board assemblies while incorporating AI-driven robotics and automation throughout the production process. Foxlink calls the operation its first U.S. “AI Factory” and plans to replicate the model across its global manufacturing network.
At full build-out, the project is expected to create approximately 900 jobs.
“The launch of our Texas facility marks a monumental milestone in Foxlink’s steadfast commitment to the U.S. market,” CEO Freddy Kuo said. “We are deploying Physical AI directly on the production floor … enabling flexible manufacturing that can be replicated rapidly across our global sites.”
Foxlink selected AllianceTexas for its transportation infrastructure, workforce, and proximity to North Texas’ expanding advanced manufacturing ecosystem.
Its arrival follows several other major industrial announcements at AllianceTexas, including Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Wistron’s planned $761 million AI supercomputing campus, Celestica’s planned $876 million manufacturing facility, and MP Materials’ rare earth magnet manufacturing campus currently under construction.
Jack Barkley, Hillwood vice president of industrial leasing, said those investments reflect what manufacturers increasingly seek from North Texas.
“This transaction reflects what global manufacturers need: strategic location, infrastructure, workforce access and connectivity that support speed, scale and long-term growth,” he said.
More Growth Ahead
The two openings come as Hillwood continues one of the most active development periods in AllianceTexas’ history. Earlier this month, the developer announced plans for a new 1.2 million-square-foot speculative industrial building within the development, adding to millions of square feet currently under construction.
“We are developing more than we’ve ever developed in our history,” Burton said. “It’s an exciting moment in time.”