The $25-million project, being built by the Crow family ofDallas, represents the US leg of a dual-pronged expansion beingundertaken by Hitachi Ltd., parent company of the Carrolltonoperation. Yesterday in Kudamatsu, Japan, a ground-breakingoccurred for a 100,000-sf electronic customer support center thatwill work in concert with the soon-to-be-relocated TX subsidiary.Stateside, the DFW building means a new North American headquartersand semiconductor equipment center for Hitachi America.

Upon completion, the two projects will link engineers,designers, sales, technicians and customers from their homelocations. "We're trying to maximize our senior technical staffwithout putting them on airplanes and flying them all over theworld," Craig Kerkove, Hitachi America's general manager, tellsGlobeSt.com.

The DFW building, being erected in the airport's northeasternquadrant, has 10,000 sf dedicated to future demonstration space andmanufacturing capabilities. Kerkove says at least 25 more peoplewill be hired when the 60-member staff is fully moved into the newbuilding. More jobs, he says, will be created when thedemonstration section and manufacturing component come on line. Atimeframe for those additions is not yet in place. Kerkove saysHitachi America also is investigating the opportunities of therefurbished computer market for another possible expansion. The newstructure, which is being leased from the airport, can accommodateup to 230 employees, he says.