I believe the new term for Phoenix, AZ and other major cities in AZ is "Silicon Desert". You can see a map of the many companies in the high tech space in AZ at the following site.
Major semiconductor manufacturing in Arizona is not exactly new: Motorola had fabs there in the 70s (or earlier?), Intel's presence dates to 1980, etc. The article [1] below from 2001 says that Arizona was "3rd in chipmaking"...
> With Taiwanese transplants moving to north Phoenix in droves, Arizona officials — and a local baker — are working behind the scenes to make them feel welcome
gjkood|1 year ago
https://siliconmaps.com/silicon-desert/
davidgay|1 year ago
[1] https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA79561583&sid=googleSc...
zdw|1 year ago
Tucson is more well known for optics, but more focused on space science than on use in silicon fabs.
wuj|1 year ago
https://archive.ph/dYCAF
> With Taiwanese transplants moving to north Phoenix in droves, Arizona officials — and a local baker — are working behind the scenes to make them feel welcome