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Four months into US partnership, several customer projects in sight

In 2025, GPV and East/West Manufacturing Enterprises (EWME) announced a strategic partnership to strengthen customer service and enhance flexibility, particularly across the United States and Mexico. The collaboration supports evolving customer requirements related to US domestic production, changing tariff environments, and compliance with BABA, BAA, and USMCA regulations. Since then, the partnership has gained momentum driven by customer demand.

Mid-April 2026, GPV CEO Bo Lybæk and VP Strategy & Sustainability Anton Holmegaard visited EWME’s site in Austin, Texas, to meet with Andy Salo, CEO and owner of EWME, and discuss how the partnership can be further developed to the benefit of customers. The visit also underlined the value of building trust and maintaining a strong personal connection, which is an important part of a successful strategic partnership.

Partnership moves into execution
The meeting included discussions around a strong inflow of cases where BABA and BAA requirements apply and where EWME is well-positioned to support customers. The teams also reviewed potential opportunities from EWME’s US customer base and confirmed that the collaboration continues to develop in a positive direction with a robust pipeline of relevant cases.

At the same time, GPV and EWME are continuing to share best practices on how they work together, both in terms of operational alignment and how they can support each other in further developing the business. The collaboration is already moving from strategy into execution, with the first manufacturing activities now in process.

“It has been very valuable to meet Andy again. Together, we explore how we best utilise this partnership for our customers. It’s about giving customers easy access to the right manufacturing setup, whether that means US-based production that complies with e.g. BABA and BAA regulations in business-friendly Texas, or cost-efficient, higher-volume production through our wider global footprint. The partnership makes sense when it creates flexibility, resilience and real business value for our customers – and that is actually what we see happening,” says Bo Lybæk, CEO at GPV.

Complementary strengths
The GPV–EWME partnership brings together complementary strengths:

Local US manufacturing in Austin, TX for quick-turn, NPI and low-to-mid volume production
Scalable, cost-efficient production through GPV’s facilities in Mexico, Europe, Asia, and China
Clear customer ownership and continuity, with each partner remaining the primary interface for its own customers
Shared values and customer-centric approach, focused on quality, flexibility and long-term collaboration.

For customers, this means fewer constraints, shorter decision paths and access to a manufacturing setup that can adapt as products, volumes and regulatory requirements evolve.

At GPV, we continue to make purposeful strategic decisions, including partnerships, that strengthen our ability to support our customers over the long term. Because being a trusted EMS partner is not just about capacity and technology, but about foresight, reliability, and choosing the right partners.

Austin is the capital of Texas and one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the United States, making it a dynamic hub for technology, innovation, and advanced manufacturing.

Austin is a strong technology hub, anchored by The University of Texas at Austin, the flagship public research university of Texas, with renowned engineering, computing, and sciences programmes that feed directly into the region’s innovation economy. Complementing UT Austin, Austin Community College (ACC) and Texas State Technical College (TSTC) provide hands-on technical and engineering training that develops the skilled trade and technician workforce that advanced manufacturing depends on. The Texas Workforce Commission actively supports workforce development across the region, and organisations like the Austin Regional Manufacturers Association (ARMA) bring together industry, education, and government to align training pipelines with real employer needs.

The greater Austin area serves as headquarters for some of the world’s most recognised technology and industrial companies, including Tesla, Oracle, Yeti, and Dell Technologies. The region also attracts major operations and campuses from global technology leaders such as Apple, NXP Semiconductors, and Samsung Austin Semiconductor.

This concentration of electronics, semiconductor, and technology companies creates a uniquely dense ecosystem for electronics manufacturing services, with local access to engineering talent, component supply chains, and customer partnerships that are difficult to replicate elsewhere.

Austin is an emerging hub for autonomous vehicle innovation and testing, driven in part by Tesla’s Gigafactory in Bastrop County and the broader presence of semiconductor and sensor technology companies in the region. NXP Semiconductors, a global leader in automotive-grade chips and embedded processing, maintains a significant Austin presence, underscoring the region’s role in the full technology stack supporting next-generation mobility.

Austin, Texas is an attractive manufacturing location thanks to its strong industrial ecosystem, deep technical workforce, and business-friendly environment. The combination of world-class universities, technical colleges, active workforce development institutions, and a thriving technology sector creates a talent pipeline well-suited to precision, high-mix electronics manufacturing.

For customers, this creates meaningful opportunities for US-based production with greater supply chain flexibility and strong support for programs where domestic sourcing requirements apply.