Illinois's Tech Exports Total $7.2 Billion in 2006
Tech Exports from Illinois Jump 20 Percent in 2006

Oakbrook Terrace, IL  (July 17, 2007) – AeA, the nation’s largest technology trade association with 2,500 member companies representing all segments of the high-tech industry, today released a special trade report detailing national and state trends in the international trade of high-tech goods. The report, Trade in the Cyberstates 2007: A State-by-State Overview of High-Tech International Trade, covers all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

High-tech goods exports from Illinois totaled $7.2 billion in 2006, up 20 percent from $6.0 billion in 2005. This is Illinois's third year in a row of growth. Tech exports are up across multiple sectors in Illinois, including industrial electronics, communications equipment, electronic components, electromedical equipment, and computers and peripheral equipment.

”High-tech companies invest 15-20 percent of their revenue in development.  That means that $7.2 billion in exports from Illinois supported as much as $1.4 billion in jobs for highly specialized labor in the state.  At $100,000 in annual salary and benefits, these exports probably supported about 14,000 technology jobs,” said Marty Singer, PCTEL's Chairman and CEO and the AeA's Chair of its Midwest Council.  “One might conclude that globalization has its merits and that Illinois is leveraging the strength of its great educational institutions and the creativity of the I-88 corridor,” added Singer.

Nationally, Trade in the Cyberstates 2007 shows that international trade of high-tech goods continues to rise. High-tech goods exports grew by 10 percent for a total of $220 billion in 2006, representing 21 percent of all U.S. exports to the world. High-tech imports totaled $322 billion in 2006, up by 9 percent, resulting in a tech trade deficit of $102 billion. Nationwide, tech exports directly supported 683,900 jobs in the United States.

Trade in the Cyberstates 2007 provides a comprehensive review of international trade of high-tech goods at the national and state-by-state level. The report provides 52 state overview pages highlighting high-tech exports with detailed data on historical export trends, exports by individual tech sector, and leading export destinations by country.

This report is a partner publication to AeA's annual flagship publication, Cyberstates, which provides national and state-by-state data on high-tech jobs, wages, payroll, and other factors. In the past, the high-tech trade data was included in the Cyberstates report. This new report provides a tremendous amount of detailed data that was not previously published. Like Cyberstates, Trade in the Cyberstates uses official government statistics and is not survey data.

AeA members can purchase Trade in the Cyberstates 2007 for $125; non-members for $250. Visit www.aeanet.org/trade to download the report, or call 408.987.4200.

What Does High-Tech Trade Mean for Illinois?

• $7.2 billion in high-tech exports (7th ranked cyberstate)
   
• Up $1.2 billion in tech exports between 2005 and 2006
   
• 17 percent of exports from Illinois are tech exports (ranked 21st)
   
• 24,500 jobs in Illinois are directly supported by tech exports

Illinois’s Leading Tech Export Destinations:

• $1.4 billion in tech exports to Canada
   
• $570 million in tech exports to Japan
   
• $521 million in tech exports to Mexico

Illinois’s Leading Tech Export Sectors:

• 3rd in electronic components exports at $1.0 billion
   
• 4th in communications equipment exports at $1.4 billion
   
•  5th in industrial electronics exports at $1.5 billion

Source: Trade in the Cyberstates 2007

Data are for 2006.

Published by AeA, Advancing the Business of Technology (www.aeanet.org)

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This page was last updated on 07/16/07.  
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