< Previous168 MAY 2021 S I T E S EL E C T I O N As technology rms look for locations in the U.S. to innovate and build their high-tech components, a large number of companies have recently chosen to establish their base of operations in Arizona — chie y, in the Greater Phoenix metro area. ese investments come from a range of high-tech industries, including logistics and high-tech manufacturers making everything from electric vehicles to semiconductors. Greater Phoenix has long been known as a hub for advanced manufacturing, with tech companies like Intel, Honeywell and Boeing operating facilities in the region. Its innovative, business-friendly climate, coupled with its sizable talent pool, has led to a year of signi cant investments and the creation of thousands of new jobs. One of the region’s most recent wins came from electric vehicle manufacturer, ElectraMeccanica, which selected the city of Mesa for its U.S.-based assembly plant. e company’s yearlong search took it to ve di erent states for its new site. Appeal How Arizona is attracting high-tech manufacturing companies, from electric vehicles to semiconductors and everything in between. S T A TE SPO TLIGHT ARIZONA National Rankings Business Tax Climate Rank Change 2020–2021: -1 24th Higher Ed. R&D Expenditure in $000s: 1,284,772 18th Number of NCRCs: 8,756 | Percent Improvement 2019–2020: 2.47% 33rd 2020 Workers’ Comp Index Rate: 1.3 11th Industrial power cost per kWh: $7.95 36th Total Revenue as Share of Total Expenses, FY 2004-2019: 104.5% 15th Phoenix, Arizona Photo: Getty Images Top 5 Projects by Capital Investment COMPANY CITY CAPEX $M Taiwan Semiconductors Phoenix 12,000 Nacero Inc. Casa Grande 3,300 Nikola Corporation Coolidge 600 Commercial Metals Company Mesa 300 Mark Anthony Brewing Inc. Glendalew 250 Source: Conway Projects Database Source: Site Selection State of the States Report, January 2021 S I T E S E L E C T I O N MAY 2021 169 Ultimately, the company’s decision to locate in Mesa hinged on nding the right environment for its technical and workforce needs. When operational, the facility is expected to create up to new jobs and produce , electric vehicles, called SOLO EV, per year. Altogether, the site will feature a light vehicle assembly plant and a state-of-the-art engineering technical center, including multiple labs and vehicle chassis, battery pack and power electronics testing workshops. “I want to thank Governor Ducey, his team, the state of Arizona and everyone who’s been involved in this process for helping to bring ElectraMeccanica’s U.S. operations to life,” said CEO Paul Rivera. “ is decision is monumental for our business and will be transformative for our host city and state. When fully operational, we anticipate creating hundreds of new jobs for the local economy. We believe Mesa’s population size and density provides a great talent pool as we look forward to contributing to the growing high-tech environment.” Talent Draws Tech Investment Maricopa County’s talent pool is indeed a deep one.Home to approximately . million people, Maricopa County is thenation’s fourth-largest county for population. More than half of the state’s population resides in Maricopa County, including Phoenix, Mesa, Chandler and others. Emsi ranked Maricopa County the No. large county in its annual Talent Attraction Scorecard. e report points to the region’s broad appeal for industries and recent activity in the semiconductor sector as a contributing factor. “Perhaps what is most striking about Maricopa’s A Appeal Intel will build two new semiconductor fabs in Chandler, Arizona. Photo courtesy of Intel by SAVANNAH KING savannah.king@siteselection.com172 MAY 2021 S I T E SE L E C T I ON economy is the breadth and depth of industries,” the report notes. Citing major investments in the advanced manufacturing and semiconductor industries, the scorecard says expansions like Intel’s Fab 42 plant contribute to Maricopa County’s status as a national leader in advanced manufacturing and semiconductor production, contributing to the county’s 18% growth in skilled jobs. The report nods to a positive feedback loop in the region — in which the presence of skilled talent attracts investments, which in turn attracts more talent and investments. The region’s workforce is bolstered by the talent coming out of Arizona State University’s (ASU) Fulton Schools of Engineering, one of the top- ranked engineering and technology programs in the country, as well as Northern Arizona University and the University of Arizona (both of which have a full range of engineering and industrial programs.) Additionally, ASU has earned the No.1 most innovative school designation from U.S. News & World Report for five consecutive years. Arizona is the Place for Fabs The last year has unveiled several new semiconductor projects in Arizona, including Intel’s massive $7 billion investment in Chandler, which was completed in October. Intel’s Fab 42 was one of the largest construction projects in the U.S. — a $7 billion investment that created 3,000 new Intel jobs and 10,000 new Arizona jobs overall. Shortly after the company officially opened its new fab, it announced its $20 billion plan to expand its Ocotillo campus in Chandler significantly. The company said it would immediately start planning and construction on two new fabs. Intel will have six factories on the 700-acre campus with the two new facilities, making the location its largest manufacturing NXP’s GaN fab in Chandler will support 5G base stations and advanced communication infrastructure in the industrial, aerospace and defense sectors. Photo courtesy of NXP (continued on page 176) S I T E SE L E C T ION MAY 2021 173 AMAZON DOUBLES DOWN IN PHOENIX Kidder Mathews released a Phoenix In- dustrial CRE Market Update for the fi rst quarter of 2021 and noted how the CO- VID-19 pandemic has accelerated trends in e-commerce, fueling demand for warehouse and distribution space in the Phoenix market. Con- struction pipelines are still booming in the region after a record-breaking new 18 million sq. ft. was added in 2020. Currently,over 16 million sq. ft. of space is being built in the area, with much of it in the Southwest Valley region of the city. Amazon has aggressively expanded in the Phoenix region over the last year, with facilities ranging in size from smaller last-minute fulfi ll- ment centers to large-scale distribution facilities. In August, Amazon announced it would open 11 new sites across the Phoenix metro area. These new facilities are ex- pected to create more than 3,000 new full- and part-time jobs paying at least $15 an hour with benefi ts. “This is big news, not only for the Phoe- nix area but for the entire state of Arizona,” said Governor Doug Ducey. “Amazon employs thousands of people in our state, and the company’s decision to expand their opera- tions here will create thousands more job op- portunities for our citizens. We are grateful for Amazon’s continued investment in Arizona.” The new sites include seven delivery stations and two additional facilities that support fulfi ll- ment operations in Avondale, Chandler, Good- year, Mesa, Phoenix and Tempe. Delivery stations power the last mile of Amazon’s order fulfi ll- ment process. These sites will create hundreds of permanent full-time and part-time jobs, in addition to o ering entrepreneurs the opportu- nity to build their own small business delivering Amazon packages and independent contractors the fl exibility to be their own boss and create their schedule delivering for Amazon Flex. In 2021, Amazon will launch additional sites to support customer fulfi llment and operations, including a cross-dock facility in Goodyear and a delivery station in Surprise, creating more than 1,000 full-time jobs in the West Valley. “We’re proud to be growing in the Phoenix metro area, where we opened our fi rst fulfi llment center in the state more than 13 years ago with just 300 full-time employ- ees. We now have more than 17,500 full- and part- time Amazon employees who call Arizona home,” said Matthew High, re- gional director, Amazon Fulfi llment. “We greatly appreciate the strong, longstanding support we’ve received from local and state leaders as we continue to grow. We’re excited to create 3,000 new full- and part-time jobs across the Valley, with industry-leading pay and comprehensive benefi ts starting on day one.” This news comes on the heels of Amazon’s announcement that it would invest $1.4 bil- lion to expand its Tech Hubs in Phoenix, Dallas, Detroit, Denver, New York and San Diego. Ama- zon’s 90,000-sq.-ft. Phoenix Tech Hub expan- sion will bring more than 500 new jobs to the community. Amazon has invested more than $11 billion in Arizona since 2010 and directly em- ploys more than 17,000 people across the state. Intel’s 700-acre Ocotillo Campus in Chandler, Arizona. Photo courtesy of Intel We now have more than 17,500 full- and part-time Amazon employees who call Arizona home.” — Matthew High, regional director, Amazon Fulfi llment We now have more than 17,500 full- and part-time We now have more than 17,500 full- and part-time 176 MAY 2021 S I T E SE L E C T I ON (continued from page ) site in the world. e Intel Ocotillo campus is the company’s fi rst mega-factory network, with four factories connected via a mile-long automated superhighway. “Intel is proud to expand our U.S. manufacturing presence with two new factories in Arizona,” said Keyvan Esfarjani, Intel senior vice president in Manufacturing & Operations. “For more than years, Arizona has been vital to Intel’s ability to create the world-changing technology we all depend on. is new investment will advance the ecosystem of innovation we’ve helped create in Arizona and increase U.S. semiconductor manufacturing capacity.” Intel is just one of many new fabs coming online in Greater Phoenix. NXP also offi cially opened its -mm. (- inch) RF Gallium Nitride (GaN) fab in Chandler in September . e new fab will support G base stations and advanced communication infrastructure in the industrial, aerospace and defense sectors. GaN power transistors have emerged as the new gold standard in G size and power requirements. e fab is set to ramp up quickly, with NXP leveraging its Chandler-based team and their longstanding expertise in compound semiconductor manufacturing. Additionally, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s (TSMC) $ billion investment in a new -nm. foundry in Phoenix is expected to create over , high-tech professional jobs directly and thousands of indirect jobs in the semiconductor ecosystem when it’s operational in . Samsung is also reportedly looking to Arizona as a potential site for its new $ billion, ,- job semiconductor fab. e company has fi led documents with Arizona, New York and Texas and is expected to decide in . Momentum Building for Stateside Semiconductor Incentives As reported by Adam Bruns in the November issue of Site Selection, momentum is building for industry incentives to bring more fabs to the U.S. e Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), in partnership with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), recently released a study analyzing the For more than 40 years, Arizona has been vital to Intel’s ability to create the world-changing technology we all depend on. is new investment will advance the ecosystem of innovation we’ve helped create in Arizona and increase U.S. semiconductor manufacturing capacity.” — Keyvan Esfarjani, Intel Senior Vice President, Manufacturing & Operations For more than 40 years, Arizona NXP o cially opened its 150-mm. (6-inch) RF Gallium Nitride (GaN) fab in Chandler in September 2020. Photo courtesy of NXP S I T E SE L E C T ION MAY 2021 177 Intel’s newly opened Fab 42 in Chandler, Arizona. Photo courtesy of Intel Next >