Technology Boom State

It bears noting that performance at this level doesn’t occur in a vacuum or by happenstance. As with any high measure of economic delivery in any state or locality, there is always a corresponding level of effort (read: hard work) behind the scenes that both drives and supports an elevated degree of success.

While they aren’t exclusive to Arizona’s ongoing tech success, two local men and the organizations they helm are behind a lot of Arizona’s impressive performance as a rising powerhouse of technological excellence, growth and diversity. 

Chris Camacho has worked for the Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC) for 13 years, and has spent the last seven as its president and CEO. The organization’s range encompasses nearly all of Maricopa County, where 21 cities and the county itself fall under the GPEC umbrella.

GPEC has a straightforward mission. “At the highest level, our job is to recruit some of the most advanced technological companies in the world to invest in and create jobs in greater Phoenix,” he explains. “We also advocate for economic policies and other competitiveness-related items—things like workforce and infrastructure to help those kinds of companies thrive in our region. Thirdly, we’re focused on how we can help these young companies get to scale.”

Meanwhile, just a few miles up Central Avenue, the Arizona Technology Council’s (ATC) president and CEO Steve Zylstra is coming up on his 14th year heading up one of the most important tech support operations in the state’s history.

With more than 850 members statewide and growing, the ATC works to nurture innovators and help them negotiate a path to success. It’s Zylstra’s mission to set up and run 150 tech-related events each year; promote public policy as it positively affects statewide technology companies; and negotiate lower-cost products, services and healthcare options for the companies under the ATC umbrella. 

“We really exist to serve our members and we’re focused on helping them succeed,” he says. “Whether it involves breaking down barriers to policy, improving the business climate they’re involved in, bringing them information and educational opportunities, it’s a pretty traditional trade association business model.”

Separately and together, these two tech-focused leaders and their teams have helped foster a statewide climate that’s highly friendly to Arizona technology at every critical level—infrastructurally, educationally and legislatively.

Camacho attributes much of Arizona’s tech success to what he terms emerging technology companies.

“It’s everything from electric vehicles to diagnostics and healthcare—new companies that are creating jobs,” he says. “And, naturally, it’s also existing companies that continue to expand here—companies like Carvana or GoDaddy or others that are our mainstay tech companies, that have decided to continue to invest and expand their footprint here.”

Asked if metro Phoenix is ready to accommodate more tech growth, Camacho is very optimistic. “I’m somewhat of a futurist, looking at the future aspects of what will drive a market,” he says. “You start region by region, and you look at what tech companies need and care about. Number one, they need people—they need skilled labor in markets where they can keep reconstituting and repopulating their own internal labor or workforces. We do that exceedingly well.”

And with “people” as part of the tech success equation, the question of properly educating and training them always arises. Camacho and Zylstra agree that, to continue to remain a leading tech state, Arizona’s commitment to education—especially in the technology fields—is paramount.

 “The extraordinary number of colleges, universities and tech skill schools in Arizona is one of the primary reasons the state is such a magnet for companies to locate here, or for those that are already here to remain here,” Zylstra says. 

Camacho adds, “Arizona State University, for example, has upwards of 25,000 engineers that they’re pumping out into the market every year, and we have a community college system which is the largest in the country. Our educational feed into the tech markets is unequivocally one of the most important ingredients to our technology market success.” 

All its innovative tech startup activity notwithstanding, Arizona’s legacy technology industries are also on the rise. In fact, semiconductor, aerospace and defense, which have been stalwarts of the Arizona economy for decades, are advancing, as well. In fact, today, Arizona is one of the top four states in semiconductor employment.

 “With TSMC [Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company] announcing their $12 billion facility and Intel announcing their $20 billion facility, [Arizona] is one of the most heralded markets in the country, one that companies are shifting toward,” Camacho says, pointing out that as the U.S. economy swings to more of a service sector than a manufacturing one, Arizona is indeed pivoting toward some newer technology startups.

Software companies, too, are going through the roof, numbers- and performance-wise. Camacho notes that the software job growth in some of Arizona’s urban sectors is rivaling that of Austin, Texas, and other areas that are considered unbeatable boom markets.

“Couple that with the healthcare market that’s growing pretty dynamically…with clinical trials, diagnostics and therapeutics, and you have to conclude that there’s just a lot of appetite here for massive technology growth,” he says.

Looking ahead, Zylstra and Camacho are both bullish on the direction Arizona technology is heading, but they’re quick to point out that it will take a lot of continued hard work, foresight and a good measure of luck to keep it on the upswing.

They both emphasize that a key element of that continuing success will be how Arizona manages its precious natural resources. “Number one, I think that water and natural resource management always has and will be a very important leadership topic for all of us,” Zylstra says. “And housing affordability is another. We have to look at how we can take some of these best-case examples of doing it right, and then make sure that our market is attainable, accessible and affordable for all residents.” 

Camacho emphasizes the importance of a continuing emphasis on quality education,  something that he's personally passionate about.