State’s high tech exports drop 8%

Colorado’s high tech industry saw an 8 percent drop in exports to foreign countries last year - a big blow to the state’s economy.

The $2.9 billion high tech industry accounts for 37 percent of the state’s total exports.

About 37 percent of overall exports comes from the state’s semiconductor market - and they have dropped since 2007 as Colorado saw many manufacturers leave the state permanently.

“Colorado depends on that market for much of its product and its exports,” said Josh James, director of research and industry analysis for Tech America, a industry organization that conducts state-by-state analysis in its annual Cyberstates report.

The report showed good news in some areas for the state: Colorado is seventh in tech-export concentration and 20th in high-tech exports. Computers and peripheral equipment are the biggest exports, followed by semiconductors, industrial electronics, electromedical equipment and communications equipment.

The state sends most of its high-tech equipment to Canada, followed by Mexico, the Philippines, Malaysia and China.

For more about the Cyberstates study, and how Colorado ranks, see Friday’s Business Journal.