“The technology industry certainly had a bit of a downturn in 2023, but Arizona remains a standout among our peers as having a technology ecosystem where opportunities remain high,” said Steven G. Zylstra, president and CEO of the Council and SciTech Institute. “We’re also encouraged by the start of 2024, with significant investments from Intel and TSMC driving new business our way and a vibrant startup ecosystem accelerating innovation across sectors.”

In addition to Arizona having the top job increase in the Southwest—including Nevada, Utah, Texas and California—and the continued rise in tech earnings, a few additional data points stood out, including:

“We are very excited to be officially opening the Lithium Research Centre (LRC),” said Paul Lloyd, AZL Managing Director. “The facility has been operational for a period of time and has hosted government and industry leaders, who have all been very impressed with the personnel and operations at the LRC. We have been overwhelmed with the support of the Arizona government and our partner for the event, the ACA. We strongly believe the LRC is critical to the company in order to test and optimize our Lithium processing technologies and ultimately produce Lithium from both of our major projects, Prairie and Big Sandy, in the most economic and sustainable manner.”

• Software developers led the way in total jobs in 2023 with 42,951. The next closest roles included computer user support specialists (24,699) and computer systems analysts (15,808).
• Jobs in Arizona’s tech sectors reached 234,000, a 5.57% one-year gain.
• More than 80% of tech job postings in the state required one to two or three to five years of experience, positioning Arizona as a great place for young technology professionals.
• Gender diversity in tech remains a challenge. In 2023, 69.8% of the workforce was male vs 30.2% being female. The percentage for females was 0.4% higher in 2022.

In addition to the updated data on the Arizona technology industry, the Council also supplements its report with published works, blogs and interviews highlighting technology industry leaders in the state, news from organizations across a wide range of sectors in the technology community, and more.