In recent years, Tijuana has become quite a destination of choice for international manufacturing and California companies moving to Tijuana.

Why are California Companies Moving to Tijuana?

Over the past several years, a noticeable shift has been occurring. California has long been a popular location for manufacturing and technology companies, but in recent years, many companies are exiting the US state for other locations more favorable to these industries. Some of the many companies to leave or announce plans for relocating outside of California in recent years include:

  • Bazz Houston Co.
  • CB Richard Ellis
  • Kulicke & Soffa Industries Inc.
  • MotorVac Technologies
  • Kulicke & Soffa Industries Inc.
  • True Games Interactive Inc.
  • Pixel2Canvas
  • Lennox Hearth Products Inc.

These and many dozens of others have found that California no longer suits their needs in an increasingly competitive global marketplace. And for many of them, they don’t have to move far.

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Tijuana’s Welcoming Technology Climate

Many of these companies have simply relocated south of the border in Tijuana and found precisely what they were looking for. Of the many motivating factors, executives from these companies often cite the lower labor costs associated with manufacturing in Tijuana, Mexico. But the phenomenon is not limited to California. Companies moving to Tijuana from all across the US hope to invest in what many believe is a booming climate for innovation within the technology industry. Manufacturing here is highly customizable, quality oriented, and much closer to market than offshoring to a manufacturing facility in Asia.

In fact, Tijuana is experiencing what some describe as a technology revolution. High-tech companies are flocking to the border town with new ideas, venture capital, and market connections in the US to take advantage of the entrepreneurial climate not unlike that of Silicon Valley in the 1980s.

One of the success stories out of the many companies moving to Tijuana as part of this new revolution is 3D Robotics, a startup drone maker, that, until recently, manufactured their drones in southern California. In 2011, this new company moved to a Tijuana apartment, quickly scaling up to the point they could move into their current manufacturing space of 12,000 square feet, where they now produce thousands of drones designed by US engineers and sold largely to a US consumer market.

According to Tim McConnell, the company’s director of engineering, 3D Robotics was able to quickly modify their designs and manufacturing practices to scale up and become quite profitable so quickly due to the proximity to the US and the ability “to drive down there with your engineers, talk to the manufacturing folks, give feedback back and forth.” Judging from the rise of co-working spaces, technology manufacturing plants, and technology hubs springing up all over the region, many other technology companies moving to Tijuana from California share this sentiment.