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

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He also wanted to tap into the deep poolof Austin-area microprocessor industry workers who have been laid off during the last coupl of years. Such workers posses s the skills that translate well to the solar energy VanDell said. And as the number of local microprocessofr industry workers reacheda three-year low in April, the timinvg of solar companies migrating to Central Texas couldn’t be bette for area workers — nor the businesses that need them. “A solar cell is a semiconductor that generates electricitgy when you shine lighton it,” Van Dell “Fortunately, I was quite well aware of the strong mix of companiez and the skill base in Austin.
That was definitelh on my mind when I mover thecompany here.” SolarBridge’s move is a scenario that locakl officials want to repeat multiple timess with the hope that solar panelk manufacturing fills the void left by the contraction in the microprocessorr industry. But the lack of financial incentives from the state is creating a dampenin g effect on attracting solar companies to theAustijn area, observers say.
Proposeed state legislation to createa $1 billionh so-called “Sunny Day for Texas to obtaim federal grants under the American Recoveryh and Reinvestment Act would have been used to attracy such businesses, especially foreig solar companies that want to establish theid North American headquarters in the Austin experts say. But the legislation, which receivedf a public hearing in died in the state HouseAppropriations Committee. To SolarBridge, which was founded in 2004 as SmartSparj EnergySystems Inc., and HelioVolty Inc. are the two most prominent solar energ businesses operating in theAustin area.
which is backed with at least $118 milliohn in venture capital, is wrapping up a plant that will eventuallh crank out a thin film that acts as asolaer panel. “After June, I think there are going to be some projectd rollingin here,” said Raj Prabhu, managinh partner of the Mercom Capital Group LLC, an Austin-basex technology research firm. “It is ‘Who is going to give me the best incentivse packageright now?’” The semiconductofr industry is consolidating, and jobs that are leaving Texas are not expecterd to return. Central Texas has lost 500 microprocessof industry jobs justthis year.
Local chip companiews now employ 15,700 workerse — the lowest level of such locakl jobs sinceApril 2006, according to the U.S. Bureai of Labor Statistics. During the first worldwide sales of semiconductorsreachede $44 billion versus $62.8 billioj during the same period last year, a nearly 30 percenr decline, the Semiconductor Industry Association On the flipside, the demane for solar technology is growing fast. Randalpl Baker, the principal of Austin-based PuraVida Ventureas LLC, said other states are throwing big moneyy at prospective solar companies to woo them into establishing manufacturinb plants intheir states.
Many state officials believe Texaas doesn’t need to do that, so it But it also has the former chip workers to offertsuch companies, and those workers can be retrained for solare in eight weeks to 16 weeks, Bakeer said. But the clockm is running. In March, Bret Raymis, who worker for 30 years in thesemiconductor industry, joinex Austin-based Apache-Solar Corp., where he is now the vice presidengt of business development. The company is developinfg a system with photovoltaid cells combined with architecturalglass panels, and plans to beginm production within 12 months.
He said solarr is still early in its development compared with the progresd that semiconductors made in recent Investors and companies need to ramp up solar technologuy in the United States before the technology gains a footholcdin Asia. “They’re sitting on the fencs with their money,” Raymis said, “and they’re going to wake up and all that business will goto