Austin is a high-density technology and creative environment that has become a fertile venue for industry interaction.

Austin, a metro area of 1.5 million, is internationally known for its accelerated technology-based growth. Its foundation is the exceptional academic-business-government collaboration that characterizes the Central Texas economy. Austin’s character as a center of high tech manufacturing and information technology, and a research, development, and design center for both, make it one of the most robust nodes for the symbiotic coalescence of technologies, markets, and functions forming the foundation for present and future innovation and growth.

Austin is a haven for creative professionals as well as high tech engineering brainpower.

The unique vibrancy of a town full of art and music give the region an uncommon ability to generate and attract knowledge workers from around the world.

Digital convergence technology industries capitalize on the creativity and hipness of Austin to drive economic growth. A young, indie-savvy community fuels Austin’s thriving game, mobile, web, multimedia, TV and film industries. Austin offers a workforce filled with experienced and successful production, engineering, design, art, marketing, sales, operations and executive management talent.

The talent pipeline is fueled by an array of targeted programs and institutions.

The University of Texas at Austin is one of the nation's largest universities, a world-class research institution, and one of the largest sites of graduate and undergraduate talent in the technology field. UT and other area universities and colleges fuel the industry with graduates from an array of targeted programs such as the gaming curricula at Austin Community College, the digital media management MBA at St. Edward’s University, or the master of science in science and technology commercialization at UT-Austin. Skillpoint Alliance, formerly the Capital Area Training Foundation, has a Digital Media Council which systematically addresses the film, gaming, digital media, and software/networking workforce pipeline with middle school through university initiatives.

The technology cluster in Austin is diverse, innovative and next generation-driven.

Austin has a wealth of hardware manufacturers, software developers, and technology service providers who have sited their research, development, and design centers in Austin due to the region’s extraordinary clustering of like operations and talent. Austin companies provide development applications and tools; devices, platforms and peripherals; middleware and development software; art, animation, audio and video software tools; and network technologies and services.

• The heart of Sony's next-generation PlayStation console, IBM’s Cell chip, was largely designed in Austin where IBM employs 6,300. Austin also participated in IBM’s Power processor development. IBM Power processor technology runs Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 and the upcoming Nintendo Revolution console.
• Advanced Micro Devices’s Opteron processors, which power film and audio production tools, were designed in part in Austin, where AMD employs 2,000.
• Freescale, the largest chip maker in the United States, headquartered in Austin and employing 5,400, produces i.MX multimedia applications processors that bring high performance video and graphics to innovative portable mobile devices and 3D gaming, as well as development technologies that help developers and game publishers create compelling content.
• Austin is driving the build-out of a wireless future where voice, data and digital media converge on open wireless and computing platforms. UT-Austin is the largest wireless research center in the country. Motorola has sited its 4G technology center in Austin. Qualcomm, Nokia, Silicon Laboratories and AT&T are also part of the Central Texas engineering cluster for wireless chips, networks and software.
• Austin's high tech segments of manufacturing, information and other IT, engineering, and R&D employ nearly 80,000.

Austin’s media arts talent fuels thriving game, mobile, web, multimedia, TV and film industries.

Our community of game development studios and publishers make Austin one of the nation’s top game development centers. Midway, Nintendo, NCsoft, Sony Online Entertainment, Take Two Interactive, and Ubisoft are in Austin. With one of the most vibrant game development communities in the world, as well as Austin’s role in expanding the platforms available for interactive entertainment, Austin is a premier region for the new era in entertainment, communications and collaboration.

Austin ranks as the number two American city for filmmakers, according to MovieMaker magazine, which lauded the city as on its way to becoming the new mecca of American moviemaking and noted its deep pool of crew and talent. Institutions like the SXSW Music, Media, Film and Interactive Conferences; the Austin Film Festival; the University of Texas Film Institute; Burnt Orange Productions; Austin Studios and the Austin Film Society have put Austin on the map, as have the numerous locally-lensed productions and Austin-based filmmakers like Robert Rodriguez, Richard Linklater, and Mike Judge. The strong presence of related creative sectors, such as the large, vibrant and renowned music industry, further enrich and enliven the pool of creative talent.

Institutional and private sector digital-oriented R&D is aligned in Austin.

The Digital Convergence Initiative is a public/private partnership dedicated to preserving and improving Central Texas’ business and research base in digital convergence technologies. UT-Austin’s Digital Media Collaboratory engages in trans-disciplinary research in creating and implementing virtual environments, intersecting human-computer communications and converging information technologies.

Market agility required by the economics of the consumer electronics industry is changing the semiconductor industry. Companies from all over the world come to Austin to get to market fast. SEMATECH, the semiconductor industry’s organization charged with accelerating the commercialization of technology innovations into manufacturing solutions, is headquartered in Austin.

Texas takes a strong position in partnership with industry with initiatives such as the Texas Technology Initiative, its long term strategy to retain and attract advanced technology industries, as well as the joint launch, with SEMATECH, of the Advanced Materials Research Center in Austin.

For business, Austin means a large, fast growing, youthful and talented workforce and a superior business environment:

• A geo-central major metro situated in the nation’s most business-friendly state
• Lower business and living costs than most major metros and virtually all knowledge centers in the U.S.
  • Low tax burden, no income tax
  • Median home price is 23% below the national median
  • Wage levels on par with national averages and highly competitive with key technology centers
  • Real estate is affordable, ample and diverse
• One of the fastest growing major job markets in the U.S. with a youthful, well-educated workforce
  • Net migration is extraordinary (at the time of the 2000 Census, only three metros saw greater total net migration than Austin)
  • Nearly half the metro’s population, 46%, is in the working years between 18 and 44 (compared to 39% nationally)
  • The median age in Austin is four years younger than the national median
  • College grads make up over 40% of the adult population (compared to 27% nationally)

“I can’t imagine running my business anywhere but Austin. The city is full of energetic, creative and talented folks—the kind that fuel my game studio. The quality of life couldn’t be better. Affordable housing, great climate, tightly knit communities, trendsetting music and films, swimming, biking, and delectable food—that’s why I’m an Austin lifer.”
—Rodney Gibbs, Executive Studio Director, Amaze Entertainment

The Greater Austin Chamber can help your company locate the site that fits your needs. For more information about our capabilities or to confidentially request information or a site search in our region, contact Tony Schum, Director, Economic Development, at 512.322.5681 or tschum@austinchamber.com.