“Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval had reason to beam and boast at a tech show here [in Reno] recently,” Jon Swartz reports for Barron’s. “The city of 300,000 he affectionately calls ‘Silicon Bridge’ for its proximity to San Francisco—about 218 miles—has emerged as a capital of big tech investments. From Tesla’s 5.8-million-square-foot Gigafactory and Apple’s sprawling new $4 million warehouse downtown, to Amazon.com’s 630,000-square-foot fulfillment center on the north end of town and Alphabet’s Google expansion efforts, Reno is a case study of tech sprouting outside the two coasts.”
“So-called flyover states have become valuable go-to territory for tech’s royalty in search of tax incentives, inexpensive land, and enough talent to fill thousands of jobs,” Swartz reports. “Most of all, they offer a respite from clogged roadways, skyrocketing housing costs, and round-the-clock work schedules that have dogged workers in Silicon Valley and portions of the East Coast.”
Much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: There are certainly some drop-dead gorgeous parts of America that aren’t overpopulated, overstressed, over-trafficked, and overpriced! Happy workers make the best workers!
SEE ALSO:
Wisconsin state Assembly approves bill paving the way for $3 billion in incentives for Foxconn plant – August 17, 2017
$10 billion Wisconsin plant to accelerate Foxconn transformation – August 16, 2017
Foxconn considering a second Wisconsin facility – August 3, 2017
Apple CEO Tim Cook dodges question of whether he promised President Trump three big, beautiful U.S. factories – August 2, 2017
President Trump announces Apple supplier Foxconn’s $10 billion investment in Wisconsin and up to 13,000 jobs – July 27, 2017
President Trump to announce Apple-supplier Foxconn manufacturing plant in Wisconsin today at 5pm EDT – July 26, 2017
President Trump says Apple CEO Tim Cook has promised 3 ‘big, beautiful’ manufacturing plants in the U.S. – July 25, 2017
China Premier Li visits Apple supplier Foxconn after CEO’s meeting with President Trump – May 10, 2017
Apple’s top manufacturing partner to meet with U.S. President Trump today – April 27, 2017
Apple supplier Sharp may begin building $7 billion U.S. plant in within months as Japan PM meets President Trump – February 8, 2017
Make America Insanely Great Again: Apple seeks to expand Made in USA manufacturing – January 9, 2017
Apple invests $1 billion in SoftBank’s massive tech fund; may help company get in President Trump’s good graces – January 4, 2017
Softbank to invest $50 billion in the U.S., create 50,000 new tech jobs after meeting with President-elect Trump – and Apple supplier Foxconn is in on the deal – December 6, 2016
President-elect Trump invites tech leaders to roundtable in Manhattan next week – December 6, 2016
President-elect Trump tells Apple CEO Tim Cook that he’d like to see Apple make products in the U.S. – November 23, 2016
President-elect Trump says Apple CEO Tim Cook called him after election victory – November 22, 2016
Apple could make iPhones in the U.S.A. under President Trump, sources say – November 17, 2016
Japan’s Softbank just became one of Apple’s most important suppliers – July 18, 2016
Let’s hope that tech spreading out helps to reinvigorate lower population areas, which sorely need help with better jobs, infrastructure and health care facilities.
I guess silicon valley is getting tired of constantly having to pass homeless living in the streets.:)
“aren’t overpopulated, overstressed, over-trafficked, and overpriced!”
Oh, don’t worry, they will be.
And you can bet the real intent is to affect the demographic makeup and politics of what have historically been republican districts. It’s harder to rail against Silicon Valley when half of your family works for one of their companies or subsidiaries. It’s easier to get national laws passed that benefit you when the congressmen of 15 states want to see you thrive and grow than, say, 2.
Paranoid much? You have a bizarrely fragmented and internally inconsistent mentality. You have to realize that many of the state and local governments that have courted Apple and Amazon and Google with tax incentives to open new facilities in Texas, North Carolina, Alabama, etc., are Republican dominated? So make up your mind…did these Republican-led state governments invite the fox into the hen house? Or did the corporate tech giants actively decide to invade the Republican heartland to alter the “demographic makeup and politics of what have historically been Republican districts”??
By the way, how far back does history go in your mind? Are you under the impression that Republicans have always “owned” these areas, or that there are not people in them who harbor differing political opinions. Also, if the new facilities are largely employing local workers, then how are they materially changing the *demographic* makeup of these areas?
Irrational, dogmatic people like you are truly creepy and scary. Please get a clue on life.
All corporations want influence over Washington. The more influence you have, the more you can get laws passed in your favor. So, the more states you have your business in, the more congressmen you can apply pressure to… you have control over the process. A side effect of this ability to push for laws to better their business is the ability to push for laws (or against laws) that they don’t fit their liberal corporate vision. For example, North Carolina’s “bathroom law”. Companies threatened to pull the plug and walk away or not go through with planned expansions and… what do you know, the law was repealed quite quickly.
Now I’m SURE the Republicans in North Carolina never thought that having all those liberal companies in the state would cause them a headache, but it eventually did. Just the nature of business today.
I can’t believe what passes as journalism in Barron’s. Jon Swartz accurately flags the real reasons that corporations have been opening facilities in the west, midwest, and south – tax incentives, inexpensive land, and enough talent to fill thousands of jobs, along with reduced traffic congestion and lower housing costs. But then he goes off the deep end attempting to conflate that with political factors, which are late-comers to the whole process, anyway. Just a bunch of click-bait targeted to excite Trump supporters. Trump has virtually nothing to do with the actions of Apple, Amazon, Google, etc. over the past decade of expansion. Attempting to elevate Trump-related political factors as a driving force behind this corporate expansion is ridiculous click-bait.
Everyone wants a cut of the truck smog from Amazon’s distribution centers. To wit, the city of Moreno Valley, CA even published a fake piece of news stating that Amazon is building such a center there. Amazon reacted by sending MV a cease and desist order over MV’s use of the Amazon logo IP.
Of course, Amazon offers more than smog to favored cities and localities; Along with Google, it gives them a solid entry into being an intricate opart of its security apparatus run by big gub’mnt’s 17 spy agencies. The get smog and spying in exchange for capitalist convenience.