5 ms·
I would love for Tulsa to succeed at creating a "new silicon valley" It could be great for the area, great for the people who are early movers, etc I don't th
by wrsh07 6y ago
I would love for Tulsa to succeed at creating a "new silicon valley"
It could be great for the area, great for the people who are early movers, etc
I don't think it will be, but I think ideas like this are good experiments. You need a certain amount of gravity before you have a good tech scene, and I am interested in knowing "what does that gravity look like? How can such friction to becoming a tech hub be erased?"
Honestly, my current bets would be:
Good office space (probably not a huge open office but whatever), a good space for hosting meetups / other presentations (maybe even a conference!?), and frequent infusion of new talent -- from college or a program like the one described in the article
Then you just need a few people with a lot of initiative to build the community
- blhack 6y agoThe "new silicon valley" is already Phoenix, AZ.
- chokeartist 6y agoBased on what? Not disputing you, legitimately curious. I am considering moving to Phoenix. Thanks!
- blhack 6y agoThe semiconductor industry has an huge presence here. Here's a new (major) fab going in: https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2020/10/20/semiconductor-manufacturer-zeroing-in-on-phoenix.html https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2020/10/20/semicond... Intel also has fabs here. Semiconductor manufacturing is a major industry in Phoenix.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- burnthrow 6y ago"Has tech industry" is not the same as "new Silicon Valley." As defined by an insatiable need for new programmer blood. Phoenix is laughably far from having that. Seattle (mostly Amazon) and Austin in the last decade have come closest to that, and are still a far cry.
- blhack 6y agoSilicon Valley is called that because it’s where all of the chip fabs were. They’ve not anymore, and with TSMC coming to Phoenix, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Phoenix is becoming the center of the microprocessor manufacturing industry in the US. The existing infrastructure here with machine shops, contractors, etc that build and maintain the fab equipment is an obvious reason why they chose this City.
- mech422 6y agoSee my comment above - there's really been a ton of stuff spring up over the last 20 years. TMSC is supposed to be spending $26 billion on a new fab here in the next 5ish years or so. I'm hoping that breaks ground soon to help boost the economy after covid.
- throwawaygh 6y agoThis won't happen, and Oklahoma/Tulsa needs to fess up to that reality and make a real plan for their economic future. If we're honest, DC/AZ/OR are the "third tech hubs" after SF and then Seattle/Boston/NYC. The ambition for a midwest tech hub to join those ranks is not insane in general. Pittsburgh could make a reasonable play because, unlike Tulsa, in Carnegie Mellon it actually does have a continuous pipeline of world-class talent. Milwaukee, MSP, KC, sure, worth a long shot (with Madison <-> Milwaukee <-> Chicago HSR it'd be the short short, but, well...). Heck, why shouldn't St. Louis's Central West End be the Kendall Square of midwest biotech?! But not Tulsa. That's just not the right play, and time is not on the region's side. Oklahoma is heading the way of Venezuela -- a horribly mismanaged and ultimately failed oil state dependent on handouts from its primary trading partners (in this case via the US federal government). It can burst forth from the ashes, but it doesn't have Carnegie Mellon or UW-Madison or the U Chicago & the CME or Wash U. It won't succeed at the "Midwest Tech Hub" play. It needs a different play. IDK what that play is, which is why I'm not betting my mortgage payments on the future of that particular region. But I do sincerely hope they eventually figure it out.
- jjeaff 6y agoI think the greater Salt Lake City area is making a somewhat successfull play so far to become "the silicon slopes".
- nostrademons 6y agoDC/AZ/OR seems like an odd choice for third-tier tech hubs. If I had to rank U.S. metro areas in terms of favorability for tech, I would do: Tier 1: Bay Area Tier 2: NYC, Seattle, Boston Tier 3: Research Triangle, Pittsburg, Chicago Tier 4: Austin, Boulder, Portland, LA/Santa Monica, Ann Arbor Tier 5: Everywhere else. There's some industry-specific tech support in various other cities (eg. oil in Houston, automotive in Detroit), but in terms of a general tech industry, they don't really register.
- ketamine__ 6y agoHow can Chicago be below Austin? Chicago has Groupon, 1871, and Lightbank. Austin's downtown doesn't even compare to Chicago's downtown. It's horrible.
- qppo 6y agoAny place that wants to be the new Mecca for tech has to be pro tech worker and not pro tech company.
- erik_seaberg 6y agoIt takes a critical mass of tech companies that are well funded and regularly hiring, so government can't be squeezing them too hard.
- qppo 6y agoFairchild showed the critical mass is one, as long as employees of that one business are free to go spawn their own. Being pro-worker is not being anti-business, but it is an explicit reframing of policy initiative.
- erik_seaberg 6y agoOne company can slowly crystalize a Silicon Valley, but maybe not if your economy already has one.
- compiler-guy 6y agoThere are literally dozens of places around the world trying to be the next Silicon Valley, and they have been trying for years. Silicon Bayou (Louisiana) Silicon prairie (Des Moines) Silicon Slopes (Salt Lake) Silicon Alley (New York) Silicon Beach (LA) Silicon Forest (Portland) It takes much more than some tax breaks and a $10,000 moving credit. I hope Oklahoma figures something out, but this is hardly a differentiator.
- lotsofpulp 6y agoOklahoma income tax is basically 5%. The $10k pales in comparison to the tax saved from moving to a no income tax state, especially for a dual and/or high family.
- pqoek 6y agoI feel like there are chances that the next big startup scene ends up not being in the US, but in Berlin or ChiangMai
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]