The mid-Atlantic region has the potential to be a power region with the advent of AI, as the US tech economy starts to become less concentrated on the West Coast.
Silicon Valley is still the leader in all things tech economy. But according to a new Brookings Institution report that maps the artificial intelligence economy across the United States, the opposite side of the country has quietly become one of the nation’s most vibrant AI ecosystems.
The US East Coast is home to two-thirds of AI job postings and over 90% of AI startup activity, per the report, with some regions rivaling Silicon Valley in key categories.
“AI could heavily influence the nation’s ability to achieve its larger goals,” wrote co-authors Mark Muro and Shriya Methkupally. “[I]t matters a lot whether and which US cities and regions are prepared to facilitate AI development in high-quality ways.”
The report ranks 28 metro areas as “Star Hubs” of AI readiness. These are regions with top-tier talent, research and adoption capacity. Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington DC all make the cut. Together with neighboring cities like New York and Trenton, they form a “mega region” that could define how and where the country builds its AI future.
The region’s potential has been recognized before, most notably 40 years ago in May 1985, when President Ronald Reagan visited a suburban corporate center in Malvern, PA, and called it “the workplace of the future.” For a time, that greater Philly corridor was even known as Silicon Valley East.
Today, it’s AI that is highlighting strengths in the region. But its future as a tech powerhouse is not guaranteed, especially in the corridor between DC and Philadelphia.
AI hubs, defined
The three indicators of AI readiness measured by the report are
- Talent: Measured by the number of computer science bachelor and doctorate degrees in a region, combined with the number of job listings looking for AI skills.
- Innovation: Measured by the rate of AI research and development, number of AI patents and high-performance computing usage.
- Adoption: Measured by the number of AI startups, VC funding of those startups and enterprise usage in the region.
There are five levels of readiness: Superstar (in the top 25% of all three areas), star (excel in all three areas), emerging centers (excel in two areas), focused movers (excel in one area) and nascent adopters (show middle-range performance in two or more areas).
Only San Francisco and San Jose in Silicon Valley fall into the Superstar category. But of the 28 cities classified as Star hubs, which include Boston, Seattle, Austin, Raleigh and Chicago, several — DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Trenton and NYC — form a noticeable mid-Atlantic cluster of AI readiness.
AI jobs are abundant in the East
It wasn’t that long ago when US technologists who were serious about working in the tech industry had to have some kind of West Coast connection, whether it was with Silicon Valley or Seattle.
While these areas remain major players so far in the AI era, Washington, DC, has only two-tenths of a percentage fewer AI job listings than San Francisco and San Jose at 6.3%.
Of the top ten cities for the number of AI job postings, four are on the West Coast, five are on the East Coast and just one — Austin, TX — is on neither coast.
When it comes to innovation and research, Washington DC represents nearly a quarter of all federal AI contracts and research and development contracts, a subset of federal contracts that specifically fund research and development activities related to AI.
The overall DC to NYC corridor cluster is home to fully 30% of all AI startups, about half located in the New York City metro area. The other 15% are located in the DC, Baltimore and Philadelphia metro areas.
What’s next for Philly, Baltimore and DC
The mid-Atlantic looks promising as a cluster of promising AI hubs, but further development won’t happen by itself, report authors Muro and Methkupally said.
“[I]t behooves both the nation and its regions (including state and municipal governments, philanthropies and local businesses) to work together to augment and widen the reach of AI development in more areas,” they wrote.
The region including DC, Baltimore and Philadelphia has potential, but the report warns that if the region is truly going to live up to the “Silicon Valley East” moniker, it will need to commit to investing in AI education, research and adoption infrastructure. This is especially true for Philadelphia and Baltimore, where socioeconomic disparities could lead to a further gap between them and the anchors of DC and NYC.
Unlike Silicon Valley proper, where strength in AI is concentrated, in the mid-Atlantic, it is distributed. The report suggests that collaborative strategies such as shared infrastructure, regional startup networks and public-private research initiatives are key to scaling sustainably.
Finally, the report notes that AI adoption is still in its infancy in many industries and without strategic intervention, even Star Hubs risk falling behind.
“The emergence of AI as a general purpose technology,” the authors wrote, “presents an inflection point for regional economic development in the United States.”
