Episode summary
Sacramento as New Hub for Semiconductor Job Growth | Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Businessweek Daily
· · 8 min · Hosts: Tim Stenovec, Carol Massar · Guests: Barry Broome
Summary
Sacramento is emerging as a California growth center because, according to Barry Broome, it offers a cheaper alternative to the Bay Area while still sitting inside the state’s wider talent and university network. He says the region is keeping more college graduates, attracting Bay Area workers, and building a stronger semiconductor economy around memory. Broome argues that remote work and post-pandemic migration have changed the labor market so people are increasingly living and working in Sacramento instead of commuting out.
He also frames the city’s appeal as more than cost. Broome says Sacramento’s success depends on clean streets, parks, libraries, public safety, and equal access to neighborhood amenities. He argues that this kind of basic civic investment builds confidence and helps revive neighborhoods. In his view, growth works best when it is visible across communities rather than concentrated in only a few areas.
More broadly, Broome says Sacramento is trying to reduce its dependence on government and build a “net new economy” tied to universities, equity, and future-facing industries. He presents inclusion as a growth strategy, not a side issue, and says the region’s approach is helping it outperform in talent retention and business attraction.
Key takeaways
- Barry Broome says Sacramento is keeping more college talent, rising from retaining about 10% of college students to about 40%.
- Broome says the region has built a strong semiconductor play around memory and is drawing Bay Area talent into Sacramento.
- Broome argues that clean streets, parks, libraries, and basic services are foundational to neighborhood revival and business growth.
- Broome says Sacramento must reduce its dependence on government and build a broader private-sector economy.
- He says Sacramento ranks highly in racial and geographic inclusion, which he sees as helping growth feel shared rather than exclusionary.
Notable quotes
“we've built a really strong semiconductor play around memory. Uh, we've driven our universities into the center of our economy”
“we went from only keeping 10% of our college students to now that's like 40”
“Sacramento's the number three US market for higher education talent”
“our goal is this, how do we move away from government because, you know, we're think of Albany, right”
“you cannot grow an economy. You cannot explain to 50% of America why they're not participating in an economy”
How the episode opens
Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts, radio, news. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Stenovec on Bloomberg Radio.
Well, in California, LA and San Francisco get a lot of the attention. Barry Broome though says we've got to be looking inland at the state's capital, Sacramento. Barry Barry Broome is the CEO of Sacramento Economic Council.
It's a public-private partnership. It works to bring business to and grow business in the greater Sacramento area. He joins us here in the Bloomberg Interactive Brokers Studio.
Right? Yeah, I I I was the founding CEO of the organization, so I Wait, and we want to talk about what's going on in Sacramento, but you've had stints in the greater Phoenix area, Kalamazoo. Because you go around, you know, we have a founder who thinks a lot about cities and healthy cities and what you need to do.
What are you seeing in terms of common threads? Because you go to some parts and some cities in America and it's it's really rough. And um, you know, you think about how do you read a revitalize?
Is there common threads that can work throughout the nation or or what have you found in doing this?
Yeah, so I started off as a neighborhood organizer in Cleveland. I ran housing projects in the late '80s and early '90s, so I'm officially old. But, you know, um, I think one of the things that happened or seasoned, yeah, wisdom.
Um, you know, one of the most important, you know, the problem is, you know, we have this exotic social conversation going on in cities because they're the center of culture. So, Sacramento's the most diverse city in America. Um, and so we tend to get caught into the complexity of that conversation.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- tariffs
- supply chains
- ai infrastructure
- semiconductor job growth
- california tech economy
Watch the episode
Watch “Sacramento as New Hub for Semiconductor Job Growth | Bloomberg Businessweek” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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