Building a Silicon Desert

BizTUCSONOctober 21, 2025

7 minutes read

Region Committed to a Thriving Technology Hub

By Rodney Campbell & Tara Kirkpatrick

Six years ago, Calline Sanchez looked around Tucson’s tech industry landscape and liked what she saw.

Sanchez, IBM’s VP of Technology Services Competitive Strategy, saw so much progress and the potential for more that she called the region a Silicon Desert.

“Tucson is actively developing an ecosystem that welcomes and supports technology companies,” she said.

With deference to Phoenix, an accelerating center for the semiconductor industry and data center development, Southern Arizona is becoming a bigger player. This region, which has long valued innovation, continues to cultivate a tech-supportive legacy.

Look no further than the University of Arizona and its prosperous commercialization engine. Tech kingpins Raytheon, Roche Tissue Diagnostics, Texas Instruments and Hexagon Mining have established and expanded their operations here. Finally, our commitment to producing and maintaining talent continues to reinforce a Silicon Desert.

“We’ve really got the schools and the innovation that they drive,” said Laura Apitz, life cycle leader for Roche’s pathology business. “Obviously, there’s the attraction of the climate that we have here. It’s easy to have people come into this area. And there’s other industry around to attract skill sets we need, like engineers and others.”

“I’ve found Tucson to be a fantastic place to live and work,” said Marco Gardner, Texas Instruments’ product line manager for High-Speed Amplifiers and Tucson site manager. “The combination of affordable cost of living, access to outdoor activities and a strong engineering community makes it easy to see why so many talented people choose to stay here. As more technology companies are expanding in Southern Arizona, the talent pool and pipeline have also grown.”

A Tech Legacy in Southern Arizona

Thomas R. Brown, who can be considered the region’s “father of technology,” built a company based on the innovation of transistors in his Tucson garage in 1956.

With a stated purpose “to provide something of value to mankind,” the Burr-Brown Corporation grew to become a public company known for its high-quality analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits for industries such as medical imaging, telecommunications and computing.

With a general engineering degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and electronics experience in the U.S. Navy, Brown saw an opportunity in transistors. “He said, ‘We can build all kinds of stuff with transistors instead of vacuum tubes, and they will be better,’” said his daughter, Sarah Brown Smallhouse. “’They’ll be more reliable. They won’t heat up the way vacuum tubes heat up. They’ll be smaller. There’s all these advantages.’”

Transistors have become the foundation of modern living, from computers to CT scans to smartphones.

Brown started his company with Page Burr, who sold his interest after a few years. As the company grew, Burr-Brown recruited its employees from UA and Pima Community College and invested heavily in them, offering continuing education and workforce development before that was even a common term.

“One of the earliest engineers, who ended up being a very senior manager in the company, started out sweeping floors, and then went through engineering at the U of A,” Smallhouse said.

Burr-Brown went public in 1983 to expand into semiconductors and grew into a global player. “We brought all that money back into the state of Arizona,” Brown said in a 2001 speech. “We didn’t let too much of it get away. So, we helped the prosperity of the people of Arizona. In Tucson, we made a major impact.”

In August 2000, Texas Instruments acquired the company for $7.6 billion and has since expanded its presence here.

After his death in 2002, Brown’s legacy continues to fuel the region’s technological and educational prosperity through his private namesake foundation, which is run by Smallhouse and her sister, Mary Brown Bernal.

Among its many philanthropic efforts, the foundation endows UA professors in science, business, engineering and optics; provides grants for K-12 STEM learning; generously supports PCC’s Center of Excellence in Applied Technology as well as tech programs at Pima Joint Technical Education District.

“The corporate purpose was to build things of value to mankind, and so we felt that the legacy of Burr-Brown should be a follow-on to that,” Smallhouse said.

The foundation focuses on STEM, workforce development, civic and economics education. “We felt those four things were all very important and tied closely to Tom Brown and Burr-Brown.”

Texas Instruments Expands Its Footprint

Since the Burr-Brown acquisition, Texas Instruments has continued to enhance its presence in Southern Arizona, driving tech excellence and innovation.

“For TI, Tucson offers not just the talent but also a lifestyle that helps people thrive inside and outside of work,” said Gardner. “What makes Southern Arizona stand out is the strong university partnerships, a growing network of tech companies and a community that genuinely supports innovation.”

In 2018, TI announced plans to build a $29 million, 125,000-square-foot facility in Williams Center, adding 35 high-wage employees to the 300 already based in Tucson. Earlier this year, TI expanded its footprint once again with the $11.6 million re-purchase of an office building at 5411 E. Williams Blvd., creating a centralized campus for the global semiconductor company and securing its long-term commitment here.

“As Tucson is an important R&D site for TI, we recently purchased the building next to our existing site to support the growth of our company,” Gardner said. “Our focus here is not on manufacturing – we don’t have fabs in Arizona – but what we do have is incredible engineering talent. Our focus is on R&D – especially in areas like analog, power and sensing – and Tucson has proven to be a perfect place to do that.”

“The innovations developed here in analog, power and sensing play a direct role in shaping the technologies of tomorrow.”

IBM Renews Lease with Major Commitment

IBM, another tech cornerstone in this region, recently renewed a long-term lease at the UA Tech Park. IBM’s presence here started in 1978, when it located its storage development division in Tucson. The site grew into a massive campus near Rita Road and Interstate 10.

The UA acquired the campus in 1994 in collaboration with IBM, establishing the UA Tech Park and securing the company as its key tenant. IBM’s renewal in 2024 extended the lease 15 years, reaffirming its commitment to the community.

Calline Sanchez points to decades of partnership between IBM and UA as a chief reason the company has stayed.

“We are proud to continue contributing to Arizona’s legacy of innovation,” she said. “Operating in Southern Arizona reflects the strength of our innovative ecosystem and business environment.

“Our employees and technology have thrived here over the decades with strong intellectual property. Having a track record of delivering products and services that meet industry needs has contributed to the momentum of IBM’s continued presence in Tucson.”

The Pillars of University of Arizona, Tech Parks Arizona

Like numerous tech leaders across the region, Sanchez heralds the value of having a world-class university here.

“The University of Arizona continues to play an instrumental role in both global and local landscapes,” Sanchez said. “UA is like a North Star, providing a solid foundation that empowers organizations to invest, grow, and push the frontiers of innovation.”

In FY 2024, UA research expenditures surpassed $1 billion, landing it among the nation’s top universities, including Duke, Stanford and Harvard.

Celebrating 30 years, Tech Parks Arizona supports companies of all sizes. It manages the UA Tech Park at Rita Road, UA Tech Park at The Bridges and the UA Center for Innovation. There are over 100 companies and 6,000 workers under Tech Parks’ umbrella. The UA Tech Park has a $2 billion annual economic impact on the region and generates $52.8 million in tax revenues for state, county and city governments.

“We have purposely created a continuum at the university,” said UA VP of Tech Parks Arizona Carol Stewart. “Researchers develop innovative real-world solutions that first move through the university’s tech transfer office. From there, they often launch as startups and are welcomed into our incubator network, the UA Center for Innovation, where they gain the support and resources needed to establish their footing. As they grow, we help them scale into facilities at the UA Tech Park—connecting them with the space, talent, and infrastructure to thrive.”

Stewart also noted that, in the past, UA graduates interested in tech careers would move elsewhere to start their professional journey. Not anymore. Salaries and opportunities here are catching up with the talent.

Tucson ranked 13th on CBRE’s Up and Coming Tech Talent Markets list in 2024. Over the five-year period covered, tech employment here climbed 3% and wages grew 13%. Software developer pay jumped 26% to reach an average of $110,530.

“Those dollars go a long way in Tucson,” Stewart said. “There’s a strong economic appeal for talent to be attracted or remain here. The direction we’re heading gives us great confidence for the future.”

A Region Invested

Heath Vescovi-Chiordi, Pima County’s director of economic development since 2022, sees a tech-supportive region that embraces the power of partnerships.

That includes varied interests like the Pima Joint Technical Education District, Arizona Technology Council, Southern Arizona Leadership Council, Startup Tucson and all levels of government. The collaboration is exciting.

“We are strengthening as a tech sector due to the strategic investments being made by public entities in early childhood education and workforce development, which help develop long-term capacity and ability to work in complex industries like advanced and emerging technology,” Vescovi-Chiordi said.

“Additionally, due to the advancements being made at our academic, training and research institutions, we are seeing our ability to attract certain tech companies more easily. We also are seeing a lot of incentivization for attracting these types of companies from the state and federal governments.”

A crucial step toward attracting and keeping promising tech businesses here more seamlessly occurred this year, when the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Sun Corridor Inc. merged to become The Chamber of Southern Arizona.

The partnership merged a Chamber with approximately 1,500 members and an economic development organization with a two-decade track record of recruitment and retention.

Joe Snell, Chamber president and CEO, said the move makes Tucson a stronger contender for luring high-tech industry.

“Before the merger we each had strengths — the Chamber with advocacy and local relationships and Sun Corridor Inc. with global business attraction,” Snell said. “Now, we can take a company from their first phone call to breaking ground here without missing a step. It’s a more seamless experience for them and it shows that Tucson is serious about competing for the best projects.”

Southern Arizona holds great promise for tech businesses. Snell believes that’s no mirage.

“We’ve always had the raw ingredients — smart people, a great location and an innovative spirit — but over the last few years we’ve really started putting it all together,” he said. “Now, companies from outside the region are starting to see what we’ve known all along: You can do cutting-edge work here and still have an incredible quality of life. That’s why the ‘Silicon Desert’ label fits. The momentum is real.”