Published on 06/11/2009

It has been nearly ten years since the Milken Institute first released America’s High-Tech Economy. During that decade, they watched as the dot-com and technology bubble formed and subsequently popped in 2001. In the aftermath, many felt that technology-based economic development had ceased—but these doubters have been proven wrong. A recovery in hightech industries began in 2003 and fueled growth once again, a trend that continued through most of 2008.

Milken Institute High-Tech Market Survey

Communities with concentrations of knowledge-based industries have been able to create high-paying jobs, retain talented individuals, and attract firms from other locations, sparking additional growth. The current economic challenges we face will not leave high-tech sectors unscathed, but they will lead growth once again when we recover.

In this study, Milken examined the locations and patterns of growth in nineteen individual high-tech industry categories. Then aggregate those results to determine overall high-tech performance. In each category, individual metro areas are then ranked according to their performance as “tech poles.” This benchmarking metric is based on employment and wages; it also looks at the concentration of technology in the local economy and each metro’s relative share of aggregate North American activity.

For this newly updated edition, they have extended the geography of our study to encompass all of North America, including Canada and Mexico. They believe this to be the most detailed comparative assessment available for understanding North America’s high-tech landscape. They can now answer questions such as, “Does Ottawa rank ahead of San Jose in communications equipment?” (Yes) and “Could Baja California lead North America in semiconductor and other electronic components manufacturing?” (Close, but not quite).

The Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas, metro division is 6th on the overall tech pole index. Its high-tech strengths lay in ICT hardware and data processing services. Overall, with 187,700 high-tech workers and a concentration 50 percent above the North American average in 2007, the metro area is an important player globally as well.

Dallas is 2nd in telecommunications, with major operations of Verizon and the new AT&T consolidating its corporate headquarters in the region. Placing 3rd in commmunications equipment manufacturing, the metro is renowned for its Dallas-Richardson telecom corridor. With Texas Instruments as its anchor, it places 6th on the semiconductor and other electronic component manufacturing tech pole index. The University of Texas, Dallas, has an outstanding engineering program that provides homegrown talent to fuel growth in these sectors. Dallas moved to 2nd, up from 3rd in 2003, in data processing, hosting, and related services. A number of

data processing centers are located here, with Electronic Data Systems being the primary anchor.