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Trade report says 70 percent of Idaho exports are high-tech

September 24, 2008 /

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Bear Paw Development Corporation is a private non-profit organization created for the purpose of administering programs to help improve regional economic conditions in Hill, Blaine, Liberty, Chouteau and Phillips Counties and the Fort Belknap and Rocky Boy's Indian Reservations.

If Egypt was the gift of the Nile, then Idaho is the gift of the semiconductor. At least that’s how it looks according to a report released Tuesday by technology trade association AeA http://www.aeanet.org/ .

Cyberstates 2008: A State-by-State Overview of High-Tech International Trade says that in 2007, $3.3 billion of Idaho’s $4.7 billion in exports were high-tech – a full 70 percent. Of that figure, $2.8 billion came from the semiconductor industry, making Idaho the fifth-largest exporter of computer chips and the second most concentrated high-tech exporter in the country (behind Vermont, with 75 percent).

The next biggest high-tech export in Idaho is computers and peripheral equipment (led by Hewlett-Packard) at $350 million – eight times less than is contributed by semiconductors, most of which are manufactured by Boise-based Micron Technology.

by Zach Hagadone

Full Story: http://www.idahobusiness.net/archive.htm/2008/09/24/Trade-report-says-70-percent-of-Idaho-exports-are-hightech