Sanyo moving SD USA HQ to Dallas Area

[PerryChase]

Sanyo is moving USA HQ to Dallas

Sanyo has been located in the South Bay for 20+ years. While the move represents only about 100 employeers, it’s still a loss of a multinational corporation for the San Diego Area.

Corporations are doing fairly well now, but I expected that when margins get tighter, more companies will move out of state.

[bob007]

it is a no-brainer to move tech companies to Dallas, Austin, Chicago, Detroit

[lindismith]

I disagree. I think tech employees are usually some of the brightest in our society, and it becomes really hard to attract elite minds to places like Frisco, Texas.

[PerryChase]

My friend thought that he would hate Frisco/Plano (Dallas) as well…. But he’s been there a few times and now he likes it. He can buy a brand new house for $189k or a new townhouse for $156k. I imagine that he’ll get a condo because living large is not his style.

http://www.kbhome.com/Community~CommID~00874214.aspx

He’ll make 20% more money than in SD. He still loves SD but unless he can find another equally good job, then he’s gone.

He plans to take the money he saves on housing to take frequent vacations all over. Dallas is an airline hub so there’re plenty of cheap tickets to many destinations.

Also, there’s no state income tax in TX.

Don’t get me wrong, I love SD and I would never move to TX myself… but my situation is different from his. I can imagine many middle class families moving out of California to other states.

[CardiffBaseball]

Outside of the heat I just don’t understand the negativity towards Dallas that I see on these sites. I had a good time there. Of course I didn’t have the nightmare commute either, as I worked in Mid-Cities (Euless) and lived right around there as well. Of course I am also not an urbanite or take offense to Hummers, but hell that stuff is just as plentiful here.

Also I think more husbands “invest” in the infrastructure of their wives around here. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

[lindismith]

wow, that link shows some nice houses! You sure get a lot more for your money!

I don’t mean to be negative about Texas. I just think California has a lot more to offer. (That’s if you can afford it.) I guess it all comes down to priorities.

[bob007]

i should modify my comment. some of the tech companies are better off moving some or all of their engineering to Dallas.

[Anonymous]

“Dallas is an airline hub so there’re plenty of cheap tickets to many destinations.”

Dallas has nearly the highest airfares in the country. American Airlines dominates the DFW airport.

[PerryChase]

“Dallas has nearly the highest airfares in the country. American Airlines dominates the DFW airport.”

Thanks for the info. I did not know that. I guess I won’t be going to Dallas with my own money. This shows how lack of competition can lead to price gouging. Or is that just supply and demand?

[JES]

On the flip side other companies are moving here or expanding here. Wish I had some data that captures the net gain or loss for high tech jobs here. Qualcomm seems to have plans to expand based on their opposition to the Miramar site being used as an airport, and they currently have 600+ job openings here in San Diego. Motorola was hiring this past year, and there are more new online job listings for San Diego then any other city in the U.S. Nokia merged with Sanyo (different Sanyo operation that the one mentioned earlier) and they cut some jobs in the merger. Freescale semi opened a lab here (purchased another company) and in the wireless sector everyone seems to be hiring.

[smfj]

If I had time I’d do this myself but – San Diego Business Journal (www.sdbj.com) might be a good place to look for information on businesses in/out of San Diego, performance of local companies. Summary info is free, I believe. Yu may be able to use it as a springboard to dig for further info.

I’m in finance at the corporate headquarters of a global public company based in SD. We’re here because our head honchos want to be here – not because it makes financial sense. It’s expensive to do business here and it IS difficult to attract talent. I make substantially less here than I could in other markets where the cost of living is lower. Yes, the weather is great, but I’m reaching the end of my tenure here. I’ve been here three years, and my friend “turnover” has been quite high. Every year, I meet people moving in, but I have more people move away. Even if housing prices come down substantially, this will still be a difficult place to live from a cost and job opportunity perspective, and it gets harder and harder to justify.

[powayseller]

Who knows what Qualcomm’s plans really are? The current cell phone technology is used only in the US, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the US eventually adopts the European and Asian standard. Then what happens to CDMA? Their job openings have been posted for a long time – UT reported 500 openings as of last December. My friend, a VP at one of their divisions, had never even heard of a hiring problem, so who knows if these are just ongoing postings.

I read in the papers about companies leaving, but don’t read about new ones coming in, or expanding. I get the monthly SD Labor Market report, and have read nothing in the last few months that indicates expansion.

Wireless could be hiring, as there has been an increase of a few hundred jobs in that sector. But in a workforce of over 1 million, it is peanuts.

[JES]

Agreed – the wireless sector only makes up a small portion of the jobs out here and overall there seems to be momentum out of the area, even if a few companies are expanding. No engineer with kids and a wife that doesn’t work would even consider moving out here right now. It’s worrisome for the area as a whole to be honest with you as we will end up losing talented people in critical jobs due to the cost of living. Firefighters, police officers, teachers, creative types who make less $$, non profit workers and on and on. To include myself in fact – I am young, my wife doesn’t work, we have two kids and I am looking at relocating!

[JES]

Almost forgot! On Qualcomm and CDMA. WCDMA (European standard) and the other European standards are definately growing quicker around the world than CDMA/CDMA2k (Qualcomm’s standard). What is not widely known though is that Qualcomm wins either way. They control thousands of key patents to all of these technologies, including WCDMA. I think they have 30% of the world wide patents for WCDMA…

[ybc]

Indeed, QCOM charges royalty on WCDMA phones at the same rate as it does CDMA phones. That was the reason that Nokia shut down its Sanyo CDMA venture — essentially to enhance its bargaining power now that it’s negotiating with Qualcomm on WCDMA/UMTS royalty rate. It’s critical to Qualcomm, because CDMA in emerging markets is facing serious challenges as CDMA phones are much more expensive than GSM phones…

We lived in Dallas before. It’s short short on weather and scenary, but definitely more cost effective for businesses and for individuals. Also, it’s nice to always be able to get a direct flight no matter where you go…

And I’m pretty sure that average pay in SD is below other major cities for skilled professionals such as IT. Wireless is an exception because of Qualcomm.

I know that If I had a choice, I wouldn’t be here.

[Author]

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