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Danny Seiden

Background​

  • President & CEO of Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry (4th year)
  • Successor to Glenn Hamer (who moved to Texas Chamber)
  • Former Deputy Chief of Staff to Governor Ducey
  • Managed Governor Ducey's campaign before government role
  • Key architect of Arizona's economic boom during Ducey administration

Major Economic Achievements​

  • Arizona is fastest-growing advanced tech manufacturing state in the country
  • Secured largest foreign direct investment in U.S. history
  • TSMC Investment: $165 billion (largest FDI ever)
    • TSMC making most advanced semiconductors outside Taiwan
    • Customers include NVIDIA and AMD
    • Essentially TSMC's new global HQ outside Taiwan
  • LG Investment: $12 billion for battery manufacturing
  • Multiple billion-dollar projects now routine ("not bringing scissors for anything short of a billion")

Strategic Focus Areas​

  • Semiconductor Manufacturing: Building on 50+ year history (Motorola, Intel)
  • Battery Manufacturing: LG local headquarters
  • Electric Vehicles: Lucid and Tesla presence
  • Data Centers: Hub due to no natural disasters and grid reliability
  • Advanced Air Mobility: First state to pass enabling legislation

Policy Philosophy​

  • "Policy matters" - uses as hashtag and core principle
  • "Capital goes where it's most wanted and stays where it's most welcome" (Walter Wriston axiom)
  • Wild West approach: "You're welcome to innovate here"
  • Resists rushing into regulation, especially on AI
  • Successfully killed prohibitive AI regulations

Innovation Support​

  • University Partnerships: Close work with ASU (Dr. Crow)
    • ASU named most innovative university 10 years running (ahead of MIT)
    • Largest engineering class in country (35,000+ engineers in training)
  • Drive 48: $3M state investment in EV training facility
    • 95% of Lucid's 1,500 employees came through program
  • Advanced Lab 48: Semiconductor clean rooms at community colleges
    • Shared research labs for expensive semiconductor equipment

Competitive Advantages​

  • No natural disasters: One of 4 states without natural disaster power outage in last decade
  • Grid reliability: Ranked #1 for data centers
  • Population concentration: 4.2 million in Maricopa County (fastest-growing county 5 years running)
  • Talent pipeline: Reverse-engineered education to meet industry needs

Chamber Operations​

  • Represents from TSMCs to small businesses
  • Acquired manufacturers council during Glenn Hamer's tenure
  • Works with universities through foundations
  • Collaborative approach - utilities and ratepayers on same board
  • Growth in commercial real estate membership

Notable Quotes​

  • "When Glenn was in Arizona, you would get him to cut a ribbon for $250 million. That's like a Tuesday right now"
  • "We're not bringing out the scissors for anything short of a billion now"
  • "No offense to Texas" (when comparing grid reliability)
  • "Capital goes where it's most wanted and stays where it's most welcome"

Key Relationships​

  • Former boss Governor Ducey
  • Dr. Michael Crow (ASU President)
  • TSMC leadership
  • LG executives
  • Glenn Hamer (predecessor, now at Texas Chamber)

Transcripts​

Transcript IDDateSummary
2025-05-29-texas-venture-forum-regional-innovation-panel2025-05-29Discussed Arizona's transformation into advanced manufacturing hub and TSMC's $165B investment

Interactions​

  • 2025-05-29: Participated in Texas Venture Forum panel. Highlighted Arizona's transformation into advanced manufacturing hub, especially semiconductors. Emphasized TSMC's $165B investment and collaborative approach with universities. Good-natured rivalry with Texas on grid reliability and business climate.