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Manufacturing accounts for about 40 percent of GNP. This is due almost entirely to Costa Rica’s newfound favor as a darling of high-tech industries. The arrival of Intel, the computer-chip manufacturer (which accounted for a remarkable one-third of Costa Rica’s exports by value in 2009), in 1997 presaged the evolution of a “Silicon Valley South.” Motorola, 3COM, Abbott Laboratories, and Hewlett-Packard have since built assembly plants, and Amazon brought a big chunk of its customer-service business here in 2010. The nation has also staked a claim as a world center for the Internet gaming industry (online casinos).
Local manufacturing is still largely concerned with food processing, although pharmaceutical and textile exports have risen dramatically in recent years.
The state has a monopoly in key economic sectors such as energy, telecommunications, and insurance.
© Christopher P. Baker from Moon Costa Rica, 8th Edition
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