RICHMOND - Governor Timothy M. Kaine today applauded Virginia’s success in leading the nation in growth of high-tech exports. According to the American Electronics Association (AeA), the nation’s largest high-technology trade association, Virginia experienced a $1.1 billion increase in high-tech goods exports since 2006—the largest increase of any state. The growth led to an 11th-place national ranking for Virginia compared to the Commonwealth’s 21st-place ranking in 2006.
The finding was released Tuesday in AeA’s annual report, “Trade in the Cyberstates 2008: A State-by-State Overview of High-Tech International Trade,” which ranks all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Virginia also recently received the Presidential “E Star” Award personally from President George W. Bush for superior export performance.
“In today’s global economy, this is a significant accomplishment for Virginia,” said Governor Kaine. “Not only is our export success vital to the success of Virginia’s economy, this ranking confirms Virginia’s leadership in technology.”
Last year, Virginia companies exported a total $16.9 billion in products overseas. High-tech goods exports from Virginia rose to $3.9 billion in 2007, a $1.1 billion increase over 2006. The Commonwealth’s strongest export sector is semiconductors, which increased by 53 percent from 2006 to 2007 and represented more than $2.3 billion of products exported last year.
“Virginia’s technology industry continues to lead the way accounting for 38% of all net new jobs in 2007,” said Secretary of Technology Aneesh Chopra. “Our semiconductor industry in particular continues to deliver year-over-year production growth serving as Virginia’s #1 manufactured export.”
Nationally, U.S. high-tech goods exports decreased by 3 percent in 2007, totaling $214 billion or 18 percent of all U.S. exports to the world. High-tech exports supported 894,600 jobs in the United States.