Silicon Valley Looking to New Competitive Strategy

Silicon Valley officials may be giving up on their ability to cost-effectively manufacture the products they research and design. Read this one.

At a time of growing concern over the loss of technology jobs to Asia, San Jose is considering an economic development strategy that assumes that Silicon Valley technology startups will base most of their manufacturing somewhere else.

The valley's cost of living combined with the cost of doing business in California assures that the proportion of manufacturing jobs will continue to decline in the valley. Instead of chasing after manufacturing jobs, the city would now focus on the headquarters of technology and biotechnology startups and their first 100 or so highly-educated and well-paid employees, the strategy says.

These companies would focus on planning and computer-based research and design. Most manufacturing, including factory-based research and development, would be expected to take place in lower-cost locations such as Texas or India.

Source.