The city’s strategic efforts to invest in the bioscience and semiconductor industries are yielding significant economic gains for the region, Mayor Kate Gallego said today in her annual State of the City Address.
Phoenix joined Seattle, San Jose and San Francisco as the top four U.S. cities for per capita GDP growth rates from 2022 to 2024, she said. Phoenix also ranked fourth for attracting new corporate headquarters last year.
DEEPER DIVE: Read all the Ranking Arizona Top 10 lists here
INDUSTRY INSIGHTS: Want more news like this? Get our free newsletter here
Gallego, now in her eighth year as mayor, hailed city initiatives that will create more economic opportunity and improve the lives of those who live in Arizona.
Phoenix is investing $50 million to help support the new ASU Health building on downtown’s Phoenix Biomedical Core.
“ASU’s approach—to combine medical and engineering educations—will fundamentally transform how health care works,” Gallego said. “We know this investment has the promise to significantly improve health outcomes in our community.”
Gallego announced the creation of the Phoenix Quantum Strategy, which is aimed to position the city and region as a leader in emerging technologies.
“Now it’s time to get ready for the next frontier of advanced tech: Quantum computing, communications and sensing,” Gallego said. “I’m proud to announce that we will create a Phoenix Quantum Strategy, a focused initiative to position our city as a quantum hub in the United States. And we have the very best person in the country to lead it: the former director of the National Science Foundation, Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan, known to many simply as ‘Panch’. Panch’s leadership at ASU and NSF helped shape America’s innovation agenda, and now he’s ready to lead the efforts for Phoenix.”
Phoenix continues to support TSMC’s growth in the north part of the city, which is spurring suppliers and other companies to open their doors nearby.
“TSMC’s $165 billion investment is spurring others to choose Phoenix too,” Gallego said. “Lam Research, which supplies wafer fabrication equipment to advanced chipmakers, located its national training center near TSMC—that’s another 440 quality jobs. Other suppliers have secured more than 80 acres to open shop in Deer Valley.”
Phoenix continues to use new technologies to help secure the city’s long term water supply.
“Two years ago, at this event, I shared with you our investment in water purification,” Gallego said. “We’ve since advanced two facilities that will provide a combined 14,000-acre-feet a year of purified water—enough to serve 40,000 families. These facilities are the precursors to a larger, regional facility that will serve communities throughout the Valley. Near the turn of the decade, the Pure Water facility at 91st Avenue will deliver around 60 million gallons each day—enough to serve 200,000 households.”
Gallego and the City Council are investing even more in affordable housing.
“Last year, the Council and I created the Phoenix Housing Trust Fund and this year, we’ll bring its total resources to 15 million dollars,” Gallego said. “All of my colleagues want to make it easier for affordable housing to come to market. We know that sometimes permit fees can make the difference in whether a project pencils out. That’s why, starting this year, we will use the Trust Fund to help cover the cost of permits for affordable housing projects in Phoenix.”
