Tech workers can look on bright side - St. Louis Business Journal:

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He also wanted to tap into the deep poolof Austin-areq microprocessor industry workers who have been laid off durin the last couple of years. Such workers possesse the skills that translate well to the solarrenergy industry, Van Dell said. And as the number of local microprocessor industry workers reacheda three-year low in the timing of solar companiesa migrating to Central Texas couldn’t be better for area workers nor the businesses that need them. “sA solar cell is a semiconductor that generates electricity when you shind lighton it,” Van Dell said. “Fortunately, I was quite well aware of the strong mix of companies and the skill basein Austin.
That was definitely on my mind when I movefd thecompany here.” SolarBridge’s move is a scenario that localo officials want to repeat multiple times with the hope that sola r panel manufacturing fills the void left by the contraction in the microprocessore industry. But the lack of financialp incentives from the statw is creating a dampening effect on attractinyg solar companies to the Austin observers say.
Proposed state legislation to creatrea $1 billion so-called “Sunny Day Fund” for Texas to obtain federal grants under the Americann Recovery and Reinvestment Act would have been used to attract such especially foreign solar companies that want to establish their North Americanj headquarters in the Austin experts say. But the legislation, which received a public hearing in died in the state HouseAppropriationss Committee. To date, SolarBridge, which was founded in 2004 as SmartSparl EnergySystems Inc., and HelioVolyt Inc. are the two most prominen t solar energy businesses operatint in theAustin area.
which is backed with at least $118 million in venturer capital, is wrapping up a planf that will eventually crank out a thin film that acts as asolar panel. “After June, I think there are going to be some projects rollingin here,” said Raj Prabhu, managing partner of the Merconm Capital Group LLC, an Austin-basedx technology research firm. “It is more, ‘Who is going to give me the best incentivew packageright now?’” The semiconductor industry is and jobs that are leaviny Texas are not expected to Central Texas has lost 500 microprocessor industry jobs just this year.
Localk chip companies now employ 15,700 workers — the lowestr level of such local jobs since April 2006, according to the U.S. Bureai of Labor Statistics. During the firsgt quarter, worldwide sales of semiconductorsreachedf $44 billion versus $62.8 billion during the same period last a nearly 30 percent decline, the Semiconductoer Industry Association reported. On the flipside, the demand for solar technology isgrowing fast. Randal Baker, the principal of Austin-based PuraVida Ventures LLC, said othet states are throwing big money at prospective solar companies to woo them into establishingg manufacturing plants intheir states.
Many state officiales believe Texas doesn’t need to do that, so it But it also has the former chip workers to offetsuch companies, and those workers can be retrainesd for solar in eight weeks to 16 weeks, Bakefr said. But the clock is In March, Bret Raymis, who worked for 30 yearzs in thesemiconductor industry, joined Austin-based Apache-Solar Corp., wherw he is now the vice president of business The company is developing a system with photovoltaif cells combined with architecturap glass panels, and planes to begin production within 12 months.
He said sola is still early in its development comparef with the progress that semiconductores made in recent Investors and companies need to ramp up solar technology in the United Statesw before the technology gains a footholdin “They’re sitting on the fence with theid money,” Raymis said, “and they’re going to wake up and all that business will go to China.”