Editor's Note: This article first appeared in the Lehigh Valley Commercial Real Estate Report for Q2 2023.
The world is powered by companies like Google, Microsoft, AT&T, and Verizon.
And they are powered in part by the technological expertise of Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. 
It was at Western Electric in Allentown where transistors, the forerunners to semiconductors, were first mass produced in 1951. Today, that legacy continues with Lehigh Valley operations of internationally known companies such as Broadcom, Cisco, Coherent, Infinera, and Intel developing, producing, and assembling semiconductors that are relied on by not only Google, Microsoft, AT&T, and Verizon, but Meta, AWS, Netflix, Nokia, and the Department of Defense, among others.
“We were the first Silicon Valley and still have many of the country’s leading technology firms – and some great new ones – thriving here,” said Don Cunningham, President and CEO of Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp. (LVEDC).
About 1,500 people are employed in Lehigh Valley tech companies, including smaller ones such as AAYUNA, iDEAL Semiconductor, and POET Technologies.
Those tech companies are supported by Lehigh Valley firms such as Air Products, Air Liquide, Evonik, EMD Electronics, RENA Technologies North America, Shellback Semiconductor Technology, and LBN that supply support, components, and raw materials.
Collectively, they are creating solutions that allow data and electricity to be transmitted faster, with less heat, in smaller hardware.
“A lot of people ask the question, ‘Why here? Or why Pennsylvania?’” said Darrell Engel, Vice President of Global Manufacturing and Site Leader of Infinera’s facility in Lehigh County. “This region was basically the world epicenter of optoelectronics packaging, where the transistor started. The talent was here, the knowledge was here.”
In August, the Lehigh Valley applied to be designated as a Tech Hub by the U.S. Economic Development Administration. 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 designations will be made.
LVEDC filed the application on behalf of a broad regional 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 is seeking to be designated as a Tech Hub for semiconductors, in particular where their production overlaps with advanced manufacturing and advanced materials sciences. A designation could qualify the region for $50 to $75 million in CHIPS Act funding.
While most semiconductor companies are based in the U.S., most manufacturing occurs in Asia. The goal of the Tech Hub program is to spur domestic production and limit economic, national security, and supply chain risks.
The program will invest in regions with the assets, resources, capacity, and potential to transform into globally competitive innovation centers in approximately 10 years. The Lehigh Valley has a strong base to grow from. Existing operations include:
Broadcom
Broadcom operates a wafer fabrication facility in Upper Macungie Township that develops and manufactures indium phosphide semiconductor lasers and detectors for fiber-optic networks and data centers. Those technologies are key to recent developments in artificial intelligence and machine learning. About 250 employees and contractors work in the 24-hour, seven-day a week operation.
“Broadcom has a long history of semiconductor manufacturing and R&D in the Lehigh Valley tracing our history back to AT&T/Bell Labs/ Lucent/Agere,” said Doug Dopp, Senior Director of Manufacturing. “We continue to invest in the Valley and collaborate with others in local industry and academia, many of whom share the AT&T lineage.”
Coherent 
Coherent is a global leader in silicon carbide (SiC) materials and devices that are critical to the rapidly growing power electronics market used in electric vehicles, renewable energy systems, and grid infrastructure.
In response to this rapidly growing global demand, Coherent is expanding its huge facility in Easton, dedicated to producing these state-of-the-art SiC materials. These materials are then utilized in the manufacture of highly efficient power electronics, with automotive EV’s being the largest market.
iDeal Semiconductor
iDEAL, located at Ben Franklin TechVentures in Bethlehem, has developed “SuperQ™,” a technology at the atomic scale that dramatically improves energy efficiency. It is applicable to all types of semiconductors and works by opening more room on the devices for conduction, reducing resistance and energy loss.
“Anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall will benefit from this technology,” said Ryan Manack, iDEAL Vice President of Marketing.
Infinera
Infinera designs, manufactures, packages, assembles, and tests optoelectronic packages and modules built around its unique optical, compound semiconductor photonic integrated circuits.
Chips produced in the company’s California-based fab are sent to its 60,000 square-foot advanced testing and packaging (ATP) facility in Upper Macungie Township that employs about 300 people.
There, those chips are tested for quality, and then assembled into modules to be inserted into optical transport equipment used for networking, cloud connectivity, and data center interconnect services. The work is delicate and high precision.
“You need to support this fragile device mechanically, electrically, thermally, and optically,” Engel said. “They need to be totally isolated from any sort of contamination. They need very, very precise optical alignments to make sure that they perform in the way they do.”
Intel
At its facility with more than 300 people in Hanover Township, Lehigh County, Intel engineers design semiconductor devices that are fabricated at other Intel facilities and packaged abroad. These chips are used in cell towers and networks all over the world.
(Coherent photo courtesy of Coherent; all other photos by Donna Fisher Photography for LVEDC)