I wish to congratulate Governor Perry for winning the IPad and IPhone Vote. No, this is not a Presidential poll of tech minded persons (i.e. geeks). No, it something much more important and real. Let me just say it this way:

If you purchased an IPad or IPhone for Christmas, Governor Perry and the great state of Texas would just like to say “Thanks”

While the rest of the country has been suffering from Obama-itis (too much government regulations and power hungry unionism), Texas has been trying to make itself attractive to business (by limiting regulations, empowering free work rules, limiting frivolous lawsuits, educating ALL its people, limiting taxes) Which brings me back to the IPad and IPhone. As many of you know (well, at least the tech-knowledgeable among us), the brains of the IPAD and IPhone is the A5 chip. These chips are now made in Texas in a new $3.6 Billion facility. How big is this new facility? Well, to put it in terms any Texan would understand: Nine football fields. This is a major facility:

The A5 chip inside Apple’s iPad 2 and iPhone 4S is now being produced stateside (In Texas), according to Reuters. Sources familiar with Apple’s production details told the news organization that Samsung Electronics is now handling production of the A5 in Austin, Texas.

Though the A5 chip has always been designed in America (at Apple’s HQ in California, to be specific), Apple has previously relied on Samsung’s overseas factory for production.
Apple reportedly began receiving chips from Samsung’s U.S.-based factory earlier this month. The new production line cost a cool $3.5 billion ($9 Billion according to Austin Chamber of Commerce) to construct and is said to be the size of nine football fields. Apple has previously relied on low-cost manufacturers in Asia

The new facility employs more than 1,100 workers. So the next time you see someone with an IPad or IPhone say “Howdy!” for the good people of Texas and for Governor Perry. Amazing! Apple Actually Buys Something Made in America!

And for those of you thinking, “Yeah, just one example”:

Texas export total for 2008 was $192.2 billion, higher than any other state. Between 2004 and 2008 the export total from TX rose 64%, or $74.8 billion which was the largest dollar gain of all 50 states. In terms of markets, 32% of TX exports ($62.1 billion in 2008) went to Mexico. Other major markets were Canada, China, The Netherlands, and Brazil.

According to http://www.trade.gov/td/industry/otea/state_reports/texas.html :

You may be thinking this was oil or coal exports. These only accounted for around 20% of Texas’ exports. Chemical products from refineries (which would be much greater if Obama stops preventing the new pipeline from Canada) accounted for another 20%, but Texas exported TWICE as much in electronic products and machinery as it did petroleum and coal! (Take that China!)

Among manufactured products, the state’s leading export category is chemical manufactures, which accounted for $38.4 billion (20 percent) of Texas’ total merchandise exports in 2008. Other top 2008 manufactured exports were computers and electronic products ($35.2 billion), machinery manufactures ($27.3 billion), and petroleum and coal products ($25.3 billion).

You can see many more details at http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/state/data/tx.html .

What Texas shows is that (with the right leadership and government policies) we can take on China and win! Governor Perry has served as Governor for the last 10 years.

UPDATE (Special Thanks for sharrondeer for providing 2009-2010 info):

Export-supported jobs linked to manufacturing account for 6.5% of Texas’ total private-sector employment.

In 2009, more than 1/4 of all manufacturing workers depended on exports. Foreign-controlled companies employed about 410,000 workers and foreign investment was responsible for 4.7% of the total (not just manufacturing) private-industry employment.

In 2010, 35% of exports went to Mexico (Nafta?), 9% to Canada (ditto), 5% to China, 3% to Brazil and Korea.

About 19% of the exports were in computers and electronic products; 18% chemical manufactures; 16% petroleum and coal products; 13% machinery; 9% transportation.