How did Chandler become the center of the Silicon Desert?

Chandler in 1966 was a sleepy town of 10,000 residents, surrounded by farm fields, and eight miles from its closest neighbor, Mesa.

Despite this, Connecticut based Rogers Corporation saw an opportunity to build its western headquarters in the small town.  At that time, the company was the leading manufacturer of circuit boards.  In 1967, Rogers opened its Circuit Systems Division in Chandler, setting off a wave of development that has yet to slow down.  Chandler was on the path to becoming the center of the Silicon Desert.

As Rogers continued to grow and expand its facilities in Chandler, city leaders looking to diversify the local economy actively courted an even larger technology company from Santa Clara, California – Intel.  Chandler leaders began building infrastructure to support high-tech companies and lobbied hard to ensure that Intel’s next expansion would be located in their city.  In 1980, this became a reality as Intel opened its first manufacturing plant in Chandler. 

In the three decades since Intel's arrival, the high-tech industry became a huge economic driver for Chandler.  Intel has expanded many times, and their Chandler campuses represent the width and breadth of their business. 

Rogers and Intel helped to attract many other high tech companies to Chandler including Keap (formerly InfusionSoft), Northrop Grumman (formerly Orbital Sciences), and PayPal.  The Price Corridor is home to enormous server farms, which power a surprisingly large portion of the world wide web.