Texas Overtakes California, Leads Nation In Tech Exports

Austin American-Statesman via CivicAnalytics ^ | 11 Feb 2014 | Brian Gaar

[Spktyr]

Surpassing California for the first time, Texas is leading the nation in technology-related exports, according to a new report.

State companies that make computers, semiconductors and communications equipment, among other products, exported more than $45 billion in products in 2012, according to the TechAmerica Foundation, a tech industry lobbying firm.

That was driven by Texas’ 7 percent growth — about $3 billion — in tech exports from 2011. Tech exports supported nearly 1.5 million jobs nationwide and about 331,000 jobs in Texas, according to the report. California, meanwhile, declined 2.8 percent, to $44.8 billion in technology exports.

Technology exports accounted for 17 percent of all exports from Texas in 2012, above the national average of 13 percent. Texas also ranked first or second in every technology export sector examined. Texas was first in semiconductor exports at $14 billion, first in communication equipment exports at $8.9 billion and second in computer equipment exports at $12.8 billion.

The state’s leading tech export destinations were Mexico ($22 billion), Canada ($4 billion) and South Korea ($3 billion).

Matthew Kazmierczak, TechAmerica Foundation’s vice president for research, said market dynamics and cost of living make Texas a more competitive location for manufacturing, which helped it overtake California.

“Texas also has some large-scale computer equipment manufacturing centers that have recently increased production and have resulted in significant increases in computer equipment exports, whereas in California the computer equipment manufacturing has decreased, contributing to the decrease in tech exports from California,” he said.

However, states also are competing with international markets, and “increasingly companies are finding that they can bring manufacturing production back to the United States and remain competitive,” Kazmierczak said. “As such, they seem to be expanding at their Texas facilities.”

Tech exports account for a significant portion of the Austin economy.

In 2012, the Austin metro area was the 35th largest export market in the United States, with merchandise shipments totaling $9 billion, up 4 percent from 2011, according to the International Trade Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce that promotes U.S. exports.

Austin ranks among the top major metro area exporters to South Korea ($3.4 billion), Taiwan ($1 billion), Mexico ($612 million), Malaysia ($497 million) and China ($397 million), according to the International Trade Administration. The city also ranks among major metro exporters of computer and electronic products ($5.9 billion); machinery, except electrical, ($2.2 billion); and electrical equipment, appliances and components ($188 million).

Brian Kelsey, principal of Civic Analytics, an Austin-based economic development firm, said he wasn’t surprised Texas has overtaken California in tech exports.

“Austin is widely recognized globally as a center of innovation and technology-based economic development,” Kelsey said. “But this report makes clear, perhaps for the first time for some people outside Texas, that technology is a key driver of growth in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and other parts of the state. Each region has its own niche within the technology sector, and that diversity provides a strong foundation for the state economy.”

Major tech employers like Round Rock-based Dell Inc. are a major reason for the Austin area’s – and by extension Texas’ – flush export numbers.

“As Dell approaches its 30th anniversary this spring, our team members are proud to have been a part of the Texas tech growth story and are focused on continuing to make technology more affordable and accessible for people and organizations worldwide,” company spokesman David Frink said.

The news of Texas’ jump ahead of California was warmly received by Austin-area lawmakers.

“It’s no surprise that Texas is now leading the nation in technology exports,” said U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin. “The success of our technology innovators drives job growth and the success of our economy.”

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, said the state’s technology sector “means more high-paying jobs that strengthen our community, while delivering more high-quality goods and services worldwide. Maintaining a highly educated workforce and a quality of life that attracts the best and brightest from around the world is essential to growing our economy.”

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Top States by Tech Exports

Texas $45.1 billion

California $44.8 billion

Florida $14.5 billion

Massachusetts $7.3 billion

New York $6.6 billion

Source: TechAmerica Foundation

[lonestar]

Motown did a lot for Detroit...in its day. Look at it now!

[re_nortex]

I always wonder why red states lag behind to the point that blue states support a lot of the red states.

Citation please?

The DemonRAT (so called "blue") states are infested with takers not wealth-creating producers. And these two maps vividly illustrates that point. It's Dixieland and parts of the midwest that are the robust economic engine driving all of America.

The states in the grip of union goons are reliably in the camp of the liberty-denying, economy-killing obama regime. They simply don't produce jobs or, for that matter, much of anything. As a Texan, I tired of our tax dollars supporting welfare queens and moochers up in Yankeeland.

[napscoordinator]

How are you doing? I hope things are well. It is raining all weekend which is better then snow we have been getting. I am so looking forward to the Spring and Summer months. I like it much better.

[lonestar]

These days, financial goldmines are built on sand...shifting sands.

[napscoordinator]

Yes your right to work state Michigan is such a success…give me a break.

[napscoordinator]

Well I can’t argue with that. We are all in trouble but some states sooner then others I suppose. I wish I could be President for one week. I would shape this country up immediately. Of course I would want to have dictatorship allowances during that time. lol.

[Jane Long]

Red States need the blue states to survive which is weird to say but factual.

LOL...Good one!

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

“Red States need the blue states to survive which is weird to say but factual.”

That street runs both ways. Are the blue states self sufficient in minning, lumber, oil, food, electricity and so much more?

[txhurl]

bwahahaha

[Grams A]

Usually the majority of freshly arrived parasites leave after experiencing one of those.”

Just wait until all those newbies try to get out of Houston because a hurricane is aimed at the Gulf Coast. Haven’t had one since Ike and we’re overdue. Should be interesting.

[Jack Hammer]

Let’s hope this doesn’t follow historic precedent and lead to Texas becoming just another Liberal crap hole.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Spktyr. Four of the five top states are also the four most populous.

[Eaker]

Idiot much?

[lonevoice]

Surpassing California for the first time, Texas is leading the nation in technology-related exports, according to a new report.

Good news! Way to go, Texas.

[Spktyr]

Yup, that’s another good parasite-removing environmental event. The twisters we get up north in the Summer and Fall are also quite good at making parasites run screaming back to wherever they came from.

[Spktyr]

Actually, the entertainment sectors are forcibly moving to Canada and now Texas because cost to produce entertainment in those places is much cheaper. Robocop (the original movie) was filmed mostly in Dallas, for example. It’s not the established major studios that are doing the moving but the younger up and coming productions that can’t afford to sit there and accept the status quo in Hollyweird.

[Spktyr]

Take away the government sector and Maryland has very little economy of its own. You just ran off the last manufacturer of any significant size, Beretta. The goldmine is artificial, I think.

[Spktyr]

Michigan was a forced-union state until *2012*, when their tanking economy forced them to go Right To Work to try to keep the last businesses from fleeing. Their economy has improved since then for some strange reason...

[napscoordinator]

I wish it weren’t true but it is.

[Spktyr]

Some may. Texas does not.

As Sam Houston is often credited as saying: “The United States needs Texas. Texas does not need the United States.” As a practical matter, we are self-sufficient in most things and for what we don’t have we’ve got several large world class ports to trans-ship from and to.