With a rich heritage in innovation that traces back to the production of the original transistor, the Lehigh Valley’s tech economy was recently featured in a podcast prized by the engineering community. 
Don Cunningham, President & CEO of the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation (LVEDC), talked about that history and current opportunities during his podcast appearance on Inside Electronics, hosted by industry expert Alix Paultre.
During the interview, Cunningham spoke about the importance of the Lehigh Valley’s market location in the populous Northeast, its ability to recruit top engineering and other tech talent, and recent U.S. CHIPS and Science Act investments for expansions at Lehigh Valley locations of tech leaders Infinera and Coherent.
The Lehigh Valley was the site of the first mass production of the transistor, a forerunner of semiconductors, at Western Electric in Allentown in 1951, and the legacy of that innovation remains in tech leaders including Broadcom and Intel.
“We like to say we were Silicon Valley before there was a Silicon Valley,” Cunningham said.
He said many of the assets that make the Lehigh Valley a strong location for manufacturing are the same for semiconductors.
The two-county region in eastern Pennsylvania is within a day’s drive of a third of U.S. consumers and an hour’s drive of a labor force of 1.8 million. It is home to 11 colleges and universities – including Lehigh University, a Tier 1 research school – and three technical and career schools.
The $55.7 billion economy is diversified and balanced with manufacturing playing an outsized role. With an output of $9 billion, the Lehigh Valley ranks within the top 15% of the nation’s manufacturing markets.
Manufacturing is among the key sectors that are growing in the Lehigh Valley, which has reached historic high employment.
LVEDC targets advanced manufacturers in several key sectors, such as semiconductors and the life sciences, because of the employment opportunities and family-sustaining wage jobs the industry offers to people of all skill and education levels. LVEDC has worked to create partnerships within the local tech industry to strengthen and grow it.
A coalition led by LVEDC applied to be designated as a Tech Hub by the U.S. Economic Development Administration in 2023. While unsuccessful, the process built relationships between the region’s technology companies, colleges and universities, workforce development, labor organizations and others who are continuing to work together to expand the Lehigh Valley’s semiconductor and technology sector.
LVEDC showcased the Lehigh Valley’s history of technological innovation at its Fall Signature Event in 2023, “Lehigh Valley’s Technology Sector: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.”
You can listen to the Inside Electronics podcast featuring Cunningham here.
(Photo by Donna Fisher Photography)