The Lehigh Valley’s effort to be designated as a national Tech Hub was the topic of discussion on a recent edition of WDIY’s “Lehigh Valley Business Beat.”
“What we in the Lehigh Valley have done is over the last three months put together a very robust application where we can advance the United States’ global competitiveness in the area of semiconductors,” Don Cunningham, President and CEO of Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp. (LVEDC) told host Sally Handlon during the program that aired Aug. 31.
Tech Hubs – officially termed Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs – were created by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 to supercharge ecosystems of innovation for technologies that are essential to economic and national security. 
Up to 20 hubs will be designated by the U.S. Economic Development Administration. Hubs could qualify for up to $75 million in federal funding to help create a domestic supply of semiconductors within the next decade, so the U.S. is not reliant on production in other countries, which is a national security concern.
The Lehigh Valley is seeking to be designated as a Tech Hub for semiconductors, in particular where their production overlaps with advanced manufacturing and advanced materials sciences.
LVEDC filed the application Aug. 15 on behalf of a coalition that includes tech companies, colleges and universities, state and local governments, and partners in labor, economic development, community services, and workforce development.
The Lehigh Valley’s has a legacy of being a leader in technological advancements. Allentown was where transistors, the forerunner of semiconductors, were first mass produced seven decades ago at Western Electric.
“A lot of people don't realize probably that the Lehigh Valley was kind of the first Silicon Valley,” Cunningham said during his appearance on WDIY.
That legacy continued, he told the Lehigh Valley Business Beat audience, with Intel engineers in the Lehigh Valley developing the first semiconductor for the iPhone in 2007. About 1,500 people work in the region’s semiconductor industry.
“There are people who work in different sectors of semiconductors,” Cunningham said. “We have a whole burgeoning group that's really working in efficient electrification, which is mostly for EVs and data centers, to use less energy to get more life out of an electric vehicle or less energy consumption to run what we commonly call the cloud, which are large data centers.
There are well-known brands such as Intel and Broadcom, along with many startups, he said.
There are about 30 related advanced materials companies such as Air Products and Air Liquide that support semiconductor companies. Institutions of higher education such as Lehigh University and Lafayette College and the region’s community colleges – Northampton Community College and Lehigh Carbon Community College – educate the tech workers and advanced manufacturing workers of the future.
Cunningham credited U.S. Rep. Susan Wild for advocating for the Tech Hub program, and Wayne Barz, Chief Investment Officer at Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeast Pennsylvania, for being instrumental in building the coalition that filed the application.
Lehigh Valley Business Beat explores topics and developments impacting the region's booming business scene. New episodes air the third Thursday of every month from 6:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
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