East Bay's Shocking Tech Transformation: Can Rust-Covered Cities Really Compete with Silicon Valley?

In June 2023, **Zoox** launched its manufacturing operation in a **220,000-square-foot**, repurposed **Gillig** bus manufacturing facility in **Hayward, California**. The ambitious goal is to produce up to **10,000 vehicles** a year. Currently, the company employs around **100 workers** in Hayward, but it plans to expand its workforce as operations ramp up.

However, Hayward is not the only city in **Alameda County** experiencing a surge in advanced manufacturing. Cities like **Fremont** and **Newark** are also pivotal players, according to the **East Bay Economic Development Alliance**, a public-private partnership representing **Alameda** and **Contra Costa** counties. Together, these three cities are becoming an emerging hub for high-value sectors including advanced transportation, **biomedical**, food and beverage, climate tech, and robotics.

**Fremont** is home to industry giants like **Tesla** and **Applied Materials**, alongside numerous precision-hardware suppliers. **Newark** hosts the engineering and prototype plant for **Lucid Motors**. Local efforts to protect industrial land, expedite permits, and modernize infrastructure have attracted a concentration of robotics, electric vehicle, biotech-hardware, and clean-tech manufacturers that did not exist at this scale just **15 years ago**.

Despite the high cost of living in the **Bay Area**, which often deters many manufacturing operations, companies like **Zoox** find significant value in proximity to their headquarters. Stephen Baiter, executive director of the East Bay Economic Development Alliance, notes that this is especially true in the early stages of product development. "It’s essential to fine-tune and commercialize a product that’s going to be made at scale," he explains.

Baiter refers to the current developments in the region as a “**convergence effect**,” indicating that companies such as **Tesla**, **Applied Materials**, and **Zoox** are leveraging the area's rich talent pool, robust research and development ecosystem, and supportive local economic policies. This convergence is creating a fertile environment for scaling operations in advanced manufacturing.

While the largest employers in the East Bay are in education, health services, and professional/technical sectors, **manufacturing** is proving to be a substantial and growing part of the economy. Baiter states, "Manufacturing accounts for anywhere between **20 to 30 percent** of our gross regional product. Employment-wise, it’s closer to **10 percent**." This highlights manufacturing's significant presence and potential impact on the local economy.

As these cities continue to evolve into a competitive manufacturing hub, the implications for both the local economy and the broader **tech** landscape are substantial. This trend not only promises job creation but also signals a shift toward a more diversified industrial base in the region, positioning the East Bay as a key player in the future of advanced manufacturing.