Big tech discovers America

“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.”

“What changed? Consider it a confluence of business decisions based on economics, simple demographics, and political considerations,” Swartz reports. “Most glaringly, the 2016 presidential election amounted to a protest vote and clarion call to institutions like Big Tech from the disenfranchised masses who voted Donald Trump into the White House. A growing national resentment toward Silicon Valley for being aloof and in an insulated bubble has prompted some of the biggest names in tech and venture capital to move or expand operations in the Midwest and South, where infrastructure is advantageous and tools such as Slack and GitHub allow tech employees to work remotely. Cases in point: Apple’s new $1.375 billion data center in Waukee, Iowa, and Foxconn Technology’s $10 billion factory complex in Mount Pleasant, Wisc., which could produce as many as 13,000 jobs. Apple is also considering a second major campus outside of California and Texas…”

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!

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