What is Phoenix giving tech companies that few other cities can?

It isn't about tax breaks. It's something harder to copy and I don't think many cities have it.

Some people watch TV. I read economic development websites.

Ok, I just read that out loud in my head and, believe me, I know how nerdy it sounds.

But I’ve been spending obsessive amounts of time getting to know Greater Phoenix.

Partly in an effort to become better friends with the Valley. Partly because I keep hearing that this place is the center of something big.

So I started digging. And I think I found something.

I’m not a reporter for a national media company with a research team supporting me.

I’m just a guy who loves tech, the people behind it, and the stories that come from both.

So this article is an observation. A working thesis if you will. Built from public information and a lot of in-person conversations.

It might be slightly off. Or a lot off. However, I’d like to think I’m onto something.

Here’s what I think: Phoenix has stopped simply selling land and is now offering access. And access, it turns out, even for a city, gets you things money alone cannot.

Here is one of the Phoenix stories we know.

You’ve heard it, read it, seen it. Hell, you might even work there now.

TSMC picked Phoenix, to the tune of $265B. Intel is expanding in Chandler. Amkor is building a packaging facility. The Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC) puts total investment into the region’s semiconductor supply chain at more than $300B.

It’s an incredible story and it’s been covered on all the platforms.

But I began to notice the way the stories are told skews toward square footage, dollar figures, and groundbreaking photos.

Now, I’m not saying those things aren’t important. They are. They’re also largely about buildings.

I know you can point at a building as proof of the development that’s happening in a city. But here’s the thing. Any state with cheap land and a good incentive package can attract a building.

So what I went looking for was the why. Why here? Why now? Why this fast?

A view on my ride from Phoenix to Tucson. I had conversations with leaders across the region about what’s happening in the tech scene.

Here are the Phoenix stories we should get to know.

First, there’s a venture capital firm in Phoenix, founded as AZ-VC, but now called Copper Sky Capital. It’s run by Jack Selby, an early PayPal employee, and someone who has lived in Arizona for more than twenty years. Well, Selby’s firm got into the investment in Etched, an Nvidia competitor. Etched is now valued somewhere around $21B (at the time I’m writing this) and, from what I could find, was difficult to get into for investment.

Wait, it gets more interesting. According to TechCrunch, Selby’s firm got in, in part, by promising to help Etched eventually re-shore its chip fabrication to Arizona. Selby credits the access to his role on the Arizona Commerce Authority board, where he helps recruit companies here.

Let’s pause and think about this: an investor got into one of the hottest chip startups not by outbidding the coasts, but by offering something the coasts didn’t have. In this case, the asset wasn’t the check, it was Arizona.

Second, that example above seems to be getting industrialized. Tesoro VC, a Phoenix firm, announced a startup hub built to launch and scale 40-60 deep-tech startups each year, plus a semiconductor design center developed with Cadence. Additional partners include TSMC, Amkor, the City of Phoenix, and GPEC.

Photo from the Kiln, a popular space for tech startups and community.

Let’s pause and think about this: what they’re actually offering founders is an end-to-end path from design and prototype through packaging and high-volume manufacturing. A front door to the supply chain.

Third, SEMICON West, one of the semiconductor industry’s largest global conferences, is leaving San Francisco (Is that a song? If not, it should be.). Permanently. Phoenix has locked in SEMICON West for Spring 2027-2029.

In the announcement, Phoenix’s economic development director, Ryan Touhill (who I recently met for coffee and a chocolate chip cookie), said something worth pausing to think about. Touhill talked about workforce pipeline, speed to market, and “the industry density that companies are looking for.”

Conferences like SEMICON West don’t decide to move for warmer weather. They move toward density.

Fourth, I looked at who funded Copper Sky Capital, Arizona’s largest venture fund ($300M). So I assumed I’d find mostly Silicon Valley LPs.

Nope.

Copper Sky Capital was anchored by Pinnacle West, the parent company of the electric utility. Alongside Salt River Project and Western Alliance Bancorp. A utility, a water power group, and a regional bank.

Let’s pause and think about this: These are some of the most conservative pools of capital that exist. They’re definitely not built to chase trends. Their entire job is to not lose money in boring (and I mean that lovingly), predictable ways.

And they collectively looked at backing startup formation in Arizona and said, “yes!”

When this kind of money moves first, I’ve learned it’s worth asking why.

Here’s my working thesis.

From my experience, and my nerdy website reading, what I typically see is cities competing on cost. Whether that’s cheaper land, lower taxes, friendlier permitting, etc. Phoenix absolutely has those things and they matter.

But what does a city do when anyone can cut a tax rate?

Phoenix has built something much harder to copy: a place where being physically present gets you into line.

And once you’re in line, proximity becomes trade-able.

You can trade your place in line for equity. For deal access. For a company that might have otherwise been built or relocated somewhere else.

The city itself becomes leverage.

Why all this matters if you run technology at the enterprise level.

I write for people who build and run tech. So let me get specific about why any of this should matter on a random afternoon when you’re buried in use cases.

You get a first look. When 40-60 deep-tech companies get built here every year, the CIOs, CISOs, CTOs, and CDIOs in this Valley are going to have conversations with those companies before anyone else. Early pilots. Proofs of concept. Design partner status on AI and infrastructure technology from the beginning.

You get access to the talent that comes with it. Engineers are moving here for the fabs and startups. Some percentage of them are going to eventually look around for their next thing. They’re going to look around here. That’s a hiring pool most enterprise tech leaders in this country would love to have.

And you get a great answer to the “where do you do tech” question. Look, I know for a fact that there’s a professional pressure to run tech in a place that’s perceived as legit. Phoenix is legit.

Be honest, what am I missing?

I don’t have all the answers. I just noticed a pattern that I’m following.

Is this repeatable, or is it a Jack Selby thing? Maybe what Im calling a strategy is really one extremely well-connected person doing what well-connected people do.

Are these companies here, or just manufacturing here? There’s a difference between a headquarter and a purchase order.

Is the enterprise side of the Valley plugged in? The fab economy and the enterprise IT economy could be running on completely separate tracks.

If you’re an investor here, someone who chose to move here, an enterprise tech leader watching all of this happening, or someone on the corporate side who decided to back a VC fund, I’d love an hour of your time.

Especially if you think I’m reading any of this incorrectly.

Because I’m going to keep pulling on this thread.

And subsequent articles will have names, faces, voices, and stories from those making all of this happen.

It’s great to be here, Phoenix.