General Information

The Official Austin Site

The Austin Business Journal

Quadralay's Austin City Links

Austin 360

Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce

Texas Department of Economic Development

NaftaNet

Some Austin-Based Companies

Dell Computers

Whole Foods

Origin Systems

Human Code

Some Major Employers in Austin

IBM

Motorola

Texas Instruments

Tandem

AMD

Samsung Opening in 1998

Think Tanks and Research Institutes

MCC: Microelectronics & Computer Corp.

Sematech

IC2 Institute

Austin Technology Incubator

Universities & Colleges

The University of Texas at Austin

1. Strategic Location. Austin is in the center of Texas,and more than 1 million people live in the Greater Austin Area. It iswithin a three hour's drive of Houston, Dallas-Ft. Worth and SanAntonio, each of them among the ten largest cities in the UnitedStates. Together, the four cities represent a population ofmore than 13 million people.

Austin is also nearly equidistant from both coasts and is onlyabout four hours by road from the Mexican border. Austin's locationmakes it ideal as a distribution center, and Bergstrom InternationalAirport--which is due to be completed in 1999--will greatly enhancethis capability.

2. A Highly Educated Workforce. Austin's population is themost highly-educated of any large or mid-sized city in the country.

3. Major High-Tech Center. Austin is now the second-largestcenter of semiconductor-related manufacturing in the U. S. (afterCalifornia's Silicon Valley). There are approximately 1,000 softwarecompanies in the city, and more than 100,000 people work in itsvarious high-tech industries.

4. A Fast Growing Economy. Over the past 5 years, Austinhas been the second-fastest growing economy in the United States,after Las Vegas, Nevada.

5. Pleasant Working Environment. Austin and the HillCountry are considered by many people one of the most desirable placesto live in the country. Young people especially are attracted toAustin, and much of its high-tech workforce prefers to work here at lower wages than they could get elsewhere.

In consequence, it'seasy to attract talented people to Austin, and easy to keep them here.Austin is known as a 'laid-back' city, with a culture of tolerance,informality and openness to new cultures and ideas, all of which appeal to the city's young, highly-educated workforce.

Thenight-life, especially on Sixth Street, is another attraction. Onmost nights, there are more than a hundred live bands performingsomewhere in the Greater Austin Area.

6. A Major Research and Development Center. The presence ofthe University of Texas and a number of other colleges anduniversities, as well as the research consortia MCC, SEMATECH and MC2are resources that provide many services to local businesses. Inaddition, these create, directly or indirectly, many new business eachyear. And approximately 25,000 people graduate from Austin'suniversities each year, providing a steady source of educatedemployees for the local job market.

7. Little Union Influence. Texas is a "right-to-work"state, meaning that workers cannot be forced to belong to a union as acondition for employment. The influence of unions in Austin isminimal, and most companies are not unionized at all. As aconsequence, temporary, part-time and contract work are very common inAustin, allowing companies to operate with lower costs and increasedefficiency.

8. A Diversified Economy. In addition to its high-techindustry, Austin is a center for popular music, and its"South-By-Southwest" music conference is one of the largest in thecountry. The movie industry is also becoming an important part of thelocal economy. The location in Austin of the University of Texas, andthe State Capital also provide opportunities for many kinds of serviceindustries.

9. Entrepreneurial Culture. Austin is a community thatwelcomes innovation and risk, and its culture welcomes new ideas andnew companies. Many international companies have major operationshere, including Siemens-Rolm, Schlumberger and Samsung. New venturecapital companies are constantly opening new operations in Austin, and it was recently selected by P. O. V. Magazineas the best cityin the U. S. in which to start a new company.

10. The "Austin Plan." This term refers to thecollaboration between the university community, the city governmentand the private sector, which is given much of the credit for Austin'srapid development into a high-tech center. The Austin Plan is verymuch alive today, and it continues to provide the backbone of much ofAustin's growth.