JCB to Open $1bn Texas Factory and Lift Staffordshire Spending After Hydrogen Speed Record

JCB, the privately owned British construction equipment maker, said on 30 September that it will open a $1 billion factory in San Antonio, Texas, next month. The company is also investing £100 million in its Staffordshire headquarters, and George Bamford will become joint chairman alongside his father, Lord Bamford.

The Texas plant, at one million square feet, is the company's largest in the world. It will build Loadall telescopic handlers and access equipment for the North American market and is expected to create 1,500 jobs over five years. North America is the world's largest construction equipment market.

The £100 million programme at the Staffordshire site includes a £60 million fully automated powder paint plant and a modernised shop floor. JCB says the work will help secure more than 8,000 UK jobs. The company has been based in the county since 1950, when founder Joseph Cyril Bamford moved production into a former cheese factory in Rocester.

The appointment of George Bamford is the first change at the top of the company in more than 50 years. Lord Bamford will remain chairman. JCB has 23 factories and more than 20,000 employees worldwide.

The announcements coincide with the publication of JCB's 2025 results. Turnover was £5.7 billion, compared with £5.8 billion in 2024. Profit before tax fell to £642 million from £687.3 million. Machine sales dropped from 119,848 units to 113,498, a decline of about 5%. The company reported no net borrowings.

Chief executive Graeme Macdonald said turnover held broadly steady because of a more favourable market and product mix. He said demand was flat in North America and the Indian market contracted by 12%, but that JCB still increased its global market share. The company expects moderate growth in 2026, though Macdonald cited ongoing geopolitical uncertainty.

JCB also said last month that its Hydromax vehicle set a land speed record for a hydrogen-powered vehicle at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Driven by Wing Commander Andy Green, it reached 406.320mph (653.909km/h). According to JCB, this more than doubled the previous hydrogen combustion record. It also exceeded the 350.6mph achieved by the company's diesel-powered Dieselmax in 2006. The press release did not give that figure, so it is included here from background knowledge rather than from the release.

Hydromax used two production-based hydrogen engines built at JCB's factory in Foston, Derbyshire. The company says the project went from concept to record in 18 months. JCB spent £100 million developing hydrogen combustion technology and says it is the first construction equipment maker to bring a fully approved hydrogen-fuelled combustion engine to market. Hydrogen-powered machines are now in production.

JCB also runs the JCB Academy, opened in 2010 to address engineering skills shortages in the UK. This year 708 students applied for 314 places. The company says the academy has educated about 3,750 young people and that all of its leavers have gone on to employment or further education. Separately, 116 apprentices, undergraduates and graduates, chosen from more than 6,300 applicants, joined the company this month.

Lord Bamford said the investments would leave JCB "well placed to seize the opportunities ahead." George Bamford said the company's home "has always been here," referring to Britain, while acknowledging its global expansion.