Carlson: Peoria poised to benefit from flourishing industry

Arizona is emerging as a national hub for technology and innovation, and Peoria and the West Valley are leading the way.

Our community is poised to benefit greatly from this economic surge, with Amkor Technology planning a $2 billion semiconductor packaging and testing facility in north Peoria, and TSMC rapidly taking shape next door in Phoenix. These are clean jobs in a flourishing industry racing to produce the advanced chips driving AI advancements utilized in everything from our vehicles to the phones in our pocket.

Amkor expects to create 2,000 high-paying jobs, making it Peoria’s largest private employer at build-out. That means economic opportunity for Peoria residents and added revenue to support the parks, recreation and essential city services that make our community a great place to live, work and play.

When it came time to find a location for its new facility, Amkor smartly chose Peoria. Our community is the perfect landing spot – with available land appropriately zoned, and its close proximity to TSMC, freeways and Sky Harbor. Likewise, the City of Peoria was smart to recruit Amkor – an Arizona-headquartered employer playing a vital role in securing our country’s semiconductor supply chain. 

Peoria needs a diverse, growing economy to support our residents; one that enhances our quality of life by creating opportunities to work closer to home. Being forced to commute long distances to work creates many hardships for people, and quite frankly doesn’t always set your day up in the best way when dealing with the traffic of our region. While I am sure there are more significant cases than mine, the year-and-a-half I commuted from Peoria to Mesa was less than desirable. The time away from my family is time I will never get back, and it is a major reason that developments like Amkor mean so much to our region. You can’t really create community when you are spending so much time away from it.

Amkor continues to work closely with local officials to address and mitigate concerns that frequently accompany large developments. Traffic can be routed away from residential areas, for example, and Amkor has already pledged to use at least 80% reclaimed/reused water to minimize impact on our water supply. Amkor is committed to being a true member of our community by working with the Peoria Unified School District, West-MEC, Arizona State University and more of our educational partners to create avenues for students to obtain great jobs right in their own backyard.

These are incredibly exciting times for Arizona! Our state has become a technological leader – ranked #1 in the country for our semiconductor industry, which has attracted over $100 billion in capital investment during the past five years alone. I appreciate the City of Peoria’s commitment to securing opportunities that add value to our region, and I look forward to working with Amkor to highlight the ways our business community and residents will benefit from Peoria being their future home.