For generations, a mention of the word potato, and, immediately, Idaho would pop into mind.
Agriculture remains a key component of the state’s economy with the starchy tuber remaining by far the state’s largest crop, Idaho’s economy is seeing a harvest of another kind with companies producing a wide range of sophisticated products and services that, unimagined just a few decades ago, forms the cutting edge of its surging economic growth.
The state’s labor market and economy are expected to witness healthy growth between now and 2032, with several key sectors – particularly technology, advanced manufacturing, and food production – representing over one-third of the new jobs created there, details a report recently released by the Idaho Department of Labor.
In general, it concludes, “Idaho’s economic and job growth over the next decade is projected to outpace the U.S. average with the state’s manufacturing sector growing at a 40 percent rate since the ‘90s.”
According to industry researcher IBISWorld, in 2024, Idaho has a population of close to two million, having grown an annualized 2.3 percent over the five years to 2024, which ranks it No.1 out of all 50 states by growth rate.
The state’s gross state product (GSP) in 2024, it says, reached $100.1 billion, with a growth rate of 4.2 percent over the five years to 2024. Businesses in Idaho employed a total of 900,717 people in 2024, with average annual employment growth over the past five years of 2.6 percent.
“Since the pandemic, Idaho has seen unprecedented growth and has ranked amongst the top in the nation for jobs, income, business growth, and tourism,” says Tom Kealey, Director, Idaho Commerce.
Addressing that unprecedented growth, Idaho Commerce has reorganized, consolidated, and added strategic industries into its new Business Development team, with the goal of creating initiatives aimed at supporting, retaining, and expanding business throughout the state.
“Through the strategic development of industry clusters, marketing, business engagement and community outreach, the team supports Idaho’s entrepreneurial spirit and fosters a thriving business ecosystem,” he says.
The team, adds Kealey, will also focus on growing Idaho industries including energy, domestic and international advanced manufacturing, aerospace, technology/innovation, food production, outdoor recreation, and tourism.
Over the past several years, a variety of companies such as U.S.-based foodservice redistributor Dot Foods and frozen food storage firm NewCold are enhancing their operations in the southeastern Idaho city of Burley.
Dot Foods is currently adding an additional 66,800 square feet of traditional warehouse space to its existing facility to support growth of its business in the western U.S. This includes significantly increased dry, frozen, and refrigerated warehouse storage space. Dot plans to finish construction in the summer of 2025, which will allow the company to move an additional 80 million pounds of product through the Burley facility each year.
Netherlands-headquartered NewCold has also expanded its U.S. operations in Burley with operations going full bore at its fully automated, 180,000 square-foot facility. The plant began operations in 2019 and is one of the largest facilities of its kind in the country and is using advanced conveyance and stacking technology to load and store frozen food pallets. French fry producer McCain Foods has been doing business in Burley for the past two decades and has also completed a $200 million expansion of its facility there. The company is NewCold’s largest Idaho customer.
In 2012, New York-based Chobani began producing its signature Greek yogurt at a $450 million, one million-square-foot facility in Twin Falls facility. Five years later, the company invested an additional $20 million into expanding operations at the plant, now the largest such plant in the world. In 2018, the company cut the ribbon at a new 71,000-square foot Global Research and Development Center adjacent to the manufacturing plant.
Idaho’s technology industry has been growing rapidly in recent years with a focus on software development, cybersecurity, and data centers with many tech firms from around the world choosing to set up shop in Idaho because of the low cost of living and business-friendly environment.
In fact, the number of high-tech companies in the state has grown by an astounding 61 percent over the past decade.
At the center of the statewide surge in tech is Boise, which serves as home to more than 3,800 tech-related business establishments, that together add an astounding $7 billion, or 9.8 percent of the state’s GDP.
In 2022, the federal CHIPS Act was passed in Congress with the goal of energizing the nation’s critical semiconductor industry.
That same year, Boise-based Micron, a semiconductor manufacturing company, announced plans to invest $15 billion – the largest such economic investment in the state’s history – over the next decade in building a new fabrication facility in Boise.
In announcing the plan, Micron said it will be the first new memory manufacturing factory built in the U.S. in 20 years, ensuring domestic supply of “leading-edge” memory necessary for industries like automotive and data centers with operations “driven by the accelerated adoption of artificial intelligence and 5G.”
Referring to economic development and the state’s surging economic growth, Micron Technology and Products’ Executive Vice President, Scott DeBoer commented that “it literally doesn’t get any bigger than what Micron is building on its campus in East Boise,” adding that, “Soon, Boise will be the home to one of the world’s most advanced manufacturing facilities.”
A list of Idaho’s tech-related projects worth noting includes:
- Aypa Power builds, owns, and operates utility-scale energy storage and hybrid renewable energy projects across North America. The company has secured $323 million in financing commitments for a 150-MW/600-MW-per hour facility in the City of Kuna just outside of Boise. The facility will be the largest battery energy storage project in Idaho when it comes online in mid-2025.
- In March, Idaho Strategic Resources (ISR) inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with California-based Radiant Industries, which is in the development phase of its Kaleidos 1MW meltdown-proof microreactor, the world’s first portable, zero-emissions power source. The MOU calls for ISR to participate in Radiant’s Kaleidos Frontier Pilot Program. The company plans to test the reactor by 2026, and if successful, it will be the first new commercial reactor design to achieve a fueled test in more than 50 years.
- Sakae Casting opened its first U.S. location in Idaho Falls several years ago. The Tokyo-based company specializes in castings for inserting stainless steel pipes into an aluminum casting product with minimized clearance, necessary for optimal performance of semi-conductors and supercomputers.
- The Idaho State Board of Education has approved the creation of the new Institute for Microelectronics Education and Research at Boise State University – a university-wide effort to advance research and prepare students for microelectronics careers. The Institute aims to increase the number of undergraduate and graduate students with industry-relevant, interdisciplinary skills. Through Semiconductor for All, a program that began this year, Boise State “will spark students’ interest in the semiconductor industry with courses available to students throughout the state through the Idaho Digital Learning Alliance.”
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) selected Boise-based Pitch Aeronautics Inc. to receive development funding from the agency’s Office of Electricity and Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy to develop technologies that will improve grid reliability, optimize electricity infrastructure, and facilitate grid connection with renewable resources. The company designs and manufactures drone-deployable power line components for the energy transmission sector.
The project, and Pitch Aeronautics’ selection to participate, will be the first comprehensive real-world demonstration of Dynamic Line Rating (DLR) technology in the western U.S. and has the potential to increase transmission capacity, reduce congestion costs, and facilitate the interconnection of renewable energy, according to one industry source.
DLR has been called an “innovative solution for improving the efficiency and reliability of power transmission” by providing a real-time assessment of transmission line capacity. The technology is becoming increasingly important as the demand for a more resilient and efficient power grid grows.
The project’s impact could, says industry observers, allow wider integration of renewable energy into the power grid, avoid substantial costs from the curtailment of power generation and make the country’s 21st-century electrical power grid a reality rather than a far-away concept.
Economic development “has many facets and does not happen in a vacuum,” says Idaho Commerce’s Tom Kealey. “It happens because of teamwork, coordination, and working with partners at the local, state, and federal levels on shared priorities and initiatives.”
In Idaho, he says, “it’s easy to get the right people together to make positive, impactful decisions swiftly and effectively. It’s a business-friendly state with low taxes, limited regulation, and an efficient, reliable infrastructure. As businesses across the country make location decisions, Idaho stands out.”
Bio: Michael D. White is a published author with four non-fiction books and well more than 1,700 by-lined articles on international transportation and trade to his credit.
During his 35 year career as a journalist, White has served in positions from contributor and reporter to managing editor for a number of publications including Global Trade Magazine, the Los Angeles Daily Commercial News, Pacific Shipper, the Los Angeles Business Journal, International Business Magazine, the Long Beach Press-Telegram, Los Angeles Daily News, Pacific Traffic Magazine, and World Trade Magazine.
He has also served as editor of the CalTrade Report and Pacific Coast Trade websites, North America Public and Media Relations Manager for Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, and as a consultant to Pace University’s World Trade Institute and the Austrian Trade Commission.
A veteran of the United States Coast Guard, White has traveled in both Japan and China, and earned a degree in journalism from California State University and a Certificate in International Business from the Japanese Ministry of Trade & Industry’s International Institute for Studies & Training in Tokyo.
