Mexico’s Manufacturing: A Story Bigger Than Nearshoring

Estimated reading time: 1 minute

Mexico’s electronics manufacturing story is often reduced simply to nearshoring. But companies operating within the country’s manufacturing ecosystem describe a market moving beyond its reputation for cost-competitive assembly. They see deeper capabilities in engineering, automation, technical services, supplier integration, digitalization, and advanced manufacturing under development. And they want the world to know.

For SMT007 Magazine, we asked six organizations at different positions along the manufacturing value chain to share their vision. We asked them to describe their companies, the value they bring to customers, where they see growth, and how Mexico’s place in global manufacturing is changing.

The responses were insightful and differed in emphasis, but we noticed several themes that suggest that Mexico is pondering its future capabilities:

• Manufacturers want partners rather than vendors
• There is a direct correlation between increased sophistication in production and the need for increased local technical capability; automation and digitalization are creating new opportunities
• Talent development is critical
• Mexico’s next phase will depend on moving further into engineering, innovation, and higher-value manufacturing.

So, let’s introduce the survey respondents, then we’ll explore each of the common themes in more detail.​​​​​​​

To continue reading this article, which appeared in the September 2026 edition of SMT007 Magazine, click here.

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