Powell Industries, founded as a metal-working shop in Houston in 1947, has grown into a $6.7 billion business focused on electrical infrastructure. Lucas Alvarado looked over the distribution switchgear in a custom power control room in 2013.
Nick de la Torre/Chronicle
Powell Industries, founded as a metal-working shop in Houston in 1947, has grown into a $6.7 billion business focused on electrical infrastructure. Lucas Alvarado looked over the distribution switchgear in a custom power control room in 2013.
Nick de la Torre/Staff
When Powell Industries first opened its doors in Houston, in 1947, it was just a metal-working shop, producing products such as portable hammocks, clothesline poles and cattle guards.
Nearly 80 years later, the company has grown alongside the city, and has diversified its business to focus on designing and manufacturing equipment and systems for electrical infrastructure.
Today, Powell Industries has about 3,000 employees around the world. Its longtime CEO, Thomas Powell, has recently become a billionaire. The company’s market capitalization is about $6.7 billion, and last month, after its stock soared over the past five years, Powell Industries announced that its board had approved a three-for-one stock split, that will take effect Monday, April 6.
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Here’s what to know about Powell Industries.
Family roots
Powell Industries was founded in 1947 by William E. Powell. His son Thomas Powell, who started working at the company in 1964, became its chairman and CEO in 1984.
Thomas Powell served as the company’s CEO until 2008, then returned twice as interim CEO before retiring from that post in 2016. He retired as chairman in 2019, and as a director in 2022.
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Thomas Powell now lives in Giddings in central Texas, according to Forbes, and remains a major shareholder in the company, which went public in 1974. Last month, he was named to the Forbes World Billionaires list for the first time, with an estimated net worth of $1.3 billion as of April 2.
Electrical evolution
Powell Industries began to specialize in electrical infrastructure by the 1960s. The company says on its website that it introduced its first power control room in 1968 in Ponce, Puerto Rico, in a project for Union Carbide, now a subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company. In 1984, it developed its first medium voltage breaker.
Today, the company says, it is focused on “designing, manufacturing and packaging equipment and systems for the distribution and control of electrical energy,” for industrial customers such as refineries and petrochemical plants.
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Powell has three manufacturing facilities in the Houston area, and two engineering offices. It has also been recognized a number of times by the Houston Chronicle’s Chronicle 100, a ranking of the region’s top public companies as measured by their performance rather than size. In 2025, the company appeared at No. 13 on the list.
Planning for growth
In recent years, Powell Industries has seen rapid growth, driven in part by the data center industry. In November, the company reported revenue of $1.1 billion for fiscal year 2025, up 9% from the previous year. Its share price has soared more than 1,500% over the past five years, according to data from NASDAQ, with its market capitalization currently standing around $6.7 billion.
Last month, the company announced a three-for-one stock split — a move typically meant to encourage retail investors.
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“Our board’s decision to approve this stock split reflects our continued strong performance and confidence in our growth outlook,” said Brett A. Cope, Powell Industries’s chairman and CEO, in a statement. “We believe that the split will improve accessibility to our stock for both current and prospective investors, as well as support liquidity in our shares.”