Facts
1. The state's high tech sector produces more than $150 billion in goods and services, accounting for 13 percent of California's Gross State Product and 17 percent of all high-tech goods and services produced in the U.S.
2. In 1998, California high-tech industries employed nearly 1.2 million people in the state, or one in every twelve nonfarm jobs. These industries had a combined annual payroll of $77 billion and an average annual wage of $65,000, compared to the state annual average of $35,350 for all industries.
3. Computer software and services industry was the largest high-tech employer in the state in 1998, supporting more than 243,000 jobs. The next largest employers were aerospace (170,000), electronic components (158,000), and telecommunication services (112,000).
4. California's high-tech sector is not limited to the Silicon Valley:
Southern California is home to 37 percent of high-tech businesses in the state, and produces $57 billion or 36.5 percent of California high-tech goods and services. This region has become a center for information technology, multimedia and medical equipment.
San Diego produces another $13 billion or 8.2 percent of high-tech output for the state, and has nine percent of high-tech businesses in the state including world leaders in wireless communications and biotechnology.
The emerging high-tech sector in the Greater Sacramento Area has four percent of the high tech-businesses in the state, and produces 3.8 percent or $5.9 billion of high-tech output in the state.
5. California exports 17 percent of U.S. high-tech goods, reflecting the state's dominance in high-tech. Exports of computers, electronics, industrial machinery, transportation equipment and chemicals accounted for $82.1 billion or 76 percent of total California exports in 1999.
6. California accounts for more than half of all US biotechnology employment, revenues (57%) and R&D (59%) and one-third of the nation's publicly-traded biotech companies. In total, California Biotech companies employ 55,000 people, generating $8.4 billion in revenues and $3.5 billion in R&D annually. The Bay Area, San Diego and Los Angeles all rank among the top six biotech centers in the nation.
7. Twenty percent of the $92 billion in foreign direct investment in the state is held in high-tech industries. Investors have looked to California firms as an opportunity to gain instant access to industries and suppliers, while acquiring technology and expertise in fast evolving industries. Some of the major investor countries in California's high-tech sector include Japan (electronic and computer services), the United Kingdom (chemicals and telecommunications), and Switzerland (chemicals).
8. According to the Carronade Group Multimedia Directory, the Bay Area and Southern California account for roughly half of all the nation's multimedia companies, with over 630 companies headquartered in California.
Source: State of California, Commerce & Economic Development Program
