"Arizona's economy was once dominated by the "five C's": cotton, cattle, citrus, copper, and climate. But a new C has emerged that could grow to overshadow the rest: chips. New semiconductor manufacturing facilities are springing up across the greater Phoenix area, stretching across blocks of new roads with names like "Processor Parkway" and "Transistor Terrace." Just outside the facilities, developers anticipating an influx of workers are planning mixed-use residential and industrial zones like mini modern-day company towns."
""It should be the sixth C," says Thomas Maynard, senior vice president of business development at the Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC). "We're losing those agricultural pieces anyway ... we're diversifying our market to where we can be more resilient for the next [economic] downturn." A less hospitable climate has taken its toll on farmers and ranchers facing dwindling water supplies that chip factories, or fabs, are now guzzling up."
Semiconductor manufacturing is transforming Greater Phoenix through new fabs, branded infrastructure, and planned mixed-use developments to house incoming workers. Chips are being promoted as a new economic pillar that could eclipse traditional sectors once defined by cotton, cattle, citrus, copper, and climate. State economic leaders view the shift as diversification to improve resilience against downturns. Water scarcity and a less hospitable climate have strained agricultural producers, while fabs are consuming substantial water supplies. Semicon West relocated to Phoenix after more than 50 years in the Bay Area, and the conference reported significant growth in booths and registrations.
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