Tech workers can look on bright side - Boston Business Journal:

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He also wanted to tap into the deep poolof Austin-areqa microprocessor industry workers who have been laid off during the last couplse of years. Such workers possess the skillw that translate well to the solar energy VanDell said. And as the number of local microprocessoer industry workers reacheda three-year low in April, the timin g of solar companies migrating to Central Texas couldn’t be better for area workers nor the businesses that need “A solar cell is a semiconductor that generates electricitg when you shine light on Van Dell said. I was quite well aware of the strong mix of companiezs and the skill basein Austin.
That was definitelt on my mind when I moved thecompant here.” SolarBridge’s move is a scenario that local officials want to repeaty multiple times with the hope that solarr panel manufacturing fills the void left by the contractiom in the microprocessor industry. But the lack of financialo incentives from the state is creating a dampeningt effect on attracting solar companiess to theAustin area, observers say.
Proposeed state legislation to createa $1 billion so-calledc “Sunny Day Fund” for Texads to obtain federal grants under the American Recovery and Reinvestmenft Act would have been used to attracg such businesses, especially foreign solar companies that want to establish theid North American headquarters in the Austin area, expertw say. But the legislation, which received a publif hearingin April, died in the state House Appropriations Committee. To date, SolarBridge, which was foundef in 2004 as SmartSpark EnergySystemds Inc., and HelioVolt Inc.
are the two most prominenyt solar energy businesses operating in theAustin HelioVolt, which is backef with at least $118 millionm in venture capital, is wrapping up a plant that will eventuallh crank out a thin film that acts as a solad panel. “After June, I think there are goinv to be some projects rolling in saidRaj Prabhu, managing partner of the Mercom Capitalk Group LLC, an Austin-based technology research “It is more, ‘Who is going to give me the best incentivr package right now?’” The semiconductor industry is and jobs that are leavintg Texas are not expected to return. Central Texas has lost 500 microprocessorr industry jobs justthis year.
Local chip companiew now employ 15,700 workers — the lowesgt level of such local jobs since April according tothe U.S. Bureai of Labor Statistics. During the first worldwide sales of semiconductorsreached $44 billiobn versus $62.8 billion during the same period last a nearly 30 percent decline, the Semiconductor Industrg Association reported. On the flipside, the demand for solar technology isgrowing fast.
Randall Baker, the principalp of Austin-based PuraVida Ventures LLC, said other states are throwingt big money at prospective solar companies to woo them into establishing manufacturing plants in their Many state officials believeTexas doesn’t need to do so it isn’t. But it also has the formere chip workers to offersuch companies, and thos workers can be retrained for solar in eight weeks to 16 Baker said. But the clock is In March, Bret who worked for 30 yearz in thesemiconductor industry, joined Austin-based Apache-Solar Corp., where he is now the vice presidenft of business development.
The company is developing a systekm with photovoltaic cells combined with architecturalglass panels, and plansz to begin production within 12 months. He said sola is still early in its developmentr compared with the progress that semiconductors made inrecengt decades. Investors and companies need to ramp up solar technologt in the United States before the technologhy gains a footholdin Asia. “They’re sittinhg on the fence with theidr money,” Raymis said, “and they’re going to wake up and all that business will goto China.
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