Mayor Kate Gallego heads to Asia to 'expand Phoenix's global presence'
Mayor Kate Gallego will head to South Korea, Japan and Taiwan today to meet with companies interested in the semiconductor supply chain burgeoning in the Valley and to advocate for direct, nonstop flights between Phoenix and Asia.
Gallego will travel with Vice Mayor Yassamin Ansari to Suwon, South Korea, and Himeji, Japan, and with Councilmember Ann O'Brien to Taipei, Taiwan. City employees from the economic development department and the nonprofit organization Phoenix Sister Cities will also join.
“Our trip will help us expand Phoenix’s global presence, foster meaningful partnerships with cities around the world, and continue our strong efforts in delivering on critical economic drivers back home," Gallego said in a statement.
Ansari and O'Brien represent the city's most northern and southern parts of Phoenix and areas that have been spotlighted by the city as economic development hubs for the Valley's budding semiconductor industry.
Gallego's two-week trip will mark her first return to Taiwain since 2019, when she pitched Phoenix as a suitable location for a future Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. facility. The company later selected north Phoenix to open a new microchip factory. TSMC has since announced a second facility for O'Brien's District 1 — a total investment of $40 billion.
The advanced technology manufacturing company is expected to bring 10,000 jobs, including 4,500 direct TSMC jobs, and produce 600,000 semiconductor wafers per year, generating about $10 billion in revenue, according to the company. The industry is seen as critical to U.S. technological advancement. Semiconductor chips power computers, smartphones and medical equipment. The Biden administration has said they will strengthen national security and the economy.
TSMC's decision to locate in Phoenix propelled the Valley to national prominence, prompting high-profile leaders such as President Joe Biden and Apple CEO Tim Cook to visit the construction site in December to celebrate the company's announcement of a second microchip fabrication plant.
Ansari's District 7, meanwhile, is on the opposite end of the city from where TSMC is headed but is also experiencing significant commercial and residential growth. The attraction is largely spurred by the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway, which opened in 2019 and serves as an additional connection between the West Valley and East Valley.
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City officials have planned for a technology corridor in the area and have called it an economic developer's dream. They believe its proximity to California ports via the Interstate 10 will further accelerate development. Regional transportation planners also have plans to connect the area to the West Valley and beyond with State Route 30, pitched as a reliever highway to I-10 that will run parallel a few miles south of the interstate.
A spokesperson for Ansari said the vice mayor is "particularly excited to learn how our sister cities in South Korea and Japan built walkable cities with some of the world's most highly rated public transit systems" and how those solutions could translate to Phoenix.
City Councilmember Kesha Hodge Washington, who was elected in March, represents Phoenix's other southern district and lives near the highway in Laveen. Hodge Washington is not headed to Asia, but throughout her campaign, she repeatedly stressed a pro-economic development message, saying the upcoming commercial opportunities would provide financial upward mobility to area residents, so long as elected leaders seized them.
Hodge Washington said she would love for interested parties to come to her area, District 8, to provide high-wage jobs.
"Semiconductor auxiliaries would be good," Hodge Washington said. "There are a number of other companies that could come as well. I'm not wedded to one particular type of industry."
Reporter Taylor Seely covers Phoenix City Hall for The Arizona Republic. Reach her at [email protected], by phone at 480-476-6116, or on Threads @taylor.azc.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix mayor heads to Asia to build on semiconductor interest
