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Well, DMV has data centers (lots of them), aerospace / defense jobs which employed a fair amount of engineers, cybersecurity / cyberanalytics / data science jobs (Think NSA), plus Amazon HQ2. That's LOTS of tech jobs even though it's not a classic "tech hub".
Although life sciences isn't always included in the general "tech industry" conversation, I'd also include the Biotech Corridor for the DMV.
I worked in the semiconductor industry early in my dev career, and the fact that they're building microchip fabs, which are extremely dependent upon water (among other things), in the middle of the damn desert is beyond stupid. Phoenix being an IC mecca is Murica at its best.
To be fair, I think that is why Syracuse got picked for the major Micron development due in part to the abundance of water in the area. So, there may be some changes in that regard.
Although life sciences isn't always included in the general "tech industry" conversation, I'd also include the Biotech Corridor for the DMV.
I'm certainly aware of the biotech corridor (I live in Frederick Co MD...), just didn't really mention it since biotech is usually somewhat a separate discussion from "tech" (as in mainly electronics / computer related).
Quote:
Originally Posted by mhays25
Not necessarily. The tech pie is growing. Other sectors are folding into what we now call "tech."
Automotive industry comes into mind. Take Tesla - do you call it an automotive company? It's also a tech company. Then there's the whole automotive electronics sector that definitely involves "tech".
Then there's things like automation - definitely "tech". Think Pittsburgh with all the robotics / AI stuff going on there, and Pittsburgh usually not consider a "tech hub" even though other tech companies do have presence there.
According to this site, here are 6 US cities to keep an eye on for continued tech jobs and tech salary growth, for the rest of 2023 and continuing into 2024-25:
I think all of these cities are fast-growing, and should continue to experience high wage growth and tech sector job growth in the next few years.
Not surprised by the list, I'm high on Tampa, they have a great tech and talent scene there and they don't rely on grifting/hype machines and all that.
Phoneix, I was ignorant on their tech scene but I've been hearing a lot of great things coming out of there. Lots of growth and I've had quite a few client trips with companies in MTL wanting to expand there and vice versa.
Charlotte too, is a sleeper city, same with Nashville. All cities on here in general have a lot of growth and promise, it's very exciting to see.
To be fair, I think that is why Syracuse got picked for the major Micron development due in part to the abundance of water in the area. So, there may be some changes in that regard.
Site selection for a semiconductor fab is a matter of "gotta haves," "cannot haves," and tax holidays . There are the "gotta haves" that include ample supplies of low-cost water & stable power, an educated local labor force (lots of EEs, MEs, IEs, chemists, solid state physicists and the like), transportation infrastructure, and the like. "Cannot haves" include being on an active earthquake fault, in tornado alley, in hurricane zones and the like, coupled with hostile state regulations.
Once you are on the short list of geographic locations, most of the rest is government tax holidays. Some locations have restrictions on tax holidays, so the local government gives something else of value such as a million credits a local public engineering university, a subsidy of electricity rates & water rates, and the like.
Are there different standards for locating different types of chips/wafers? The West Coast has a lot of earthquakes but Portland for example is a big Intel center.
Are there different standards for locating different types of chips/wafers? The West Coast has a lot of earthquakes but Portland for example is a big Intel center.
I would imagine the big chip companies distribute their fabs to have one running when another is affected. Whether it’s an earthquake, drought, flood or tornado
Are there different standards for locating different types of chips/wafers? The West Coast has a lot of earthquakes but Portland for example is a big Intel center.
In general, you have "development fabs" and "production fabs." Development fabs tend to be low volume and used for new product & process development. Once things work, only then is it rolled out to a production fab. I don't remember if Intel's Oregon based fabs are development or are production.
The output of a semiconductor fab is a wafer about the size of a dinner plate. The wafers are then shipped to separate factories called Assembly/Test factories. There, the wafers are cut into their individual chips (called "die" at this point), tested, and the good ones are ultimately packaged into chips and sold. The bad ones are destroyed.
Every now and then - maybe a couple times per decade, every single "die" on a wafer works. That's called a "perfect wafer." No one knows why. The wafer before it and after it in production are not perfect, but this one is. It might be a simple as an errant cosmic ray coursing through the building.
The Assembly Test operation doesn't require a lot of highly skilled labor, and frequently is situated in lower cost countries. The Fab, on the other hand, requires a ton of highly skilled labor (PhDs in various disciplines). The cost of labor is rounding error to the total cost of the fab & its ongoing operation. Low cost locations are irrelevant to the production fab.
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Silicon Valley got its nickname because that's where semiconductor fabrication upon silicon substrates took off. The last semiconductor fab in Silicon Valley closed probably 4 decades ago. It is possible there are a couple small operating development fabs.
Last edited by moguldreamer; 09-19-2023 at 04:45 PM..
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