Originally Posted by MikeMpls

Those who think MSP will be demphasized as an international hub simply don't realize the extent of industry (esp. high tech) here. Back in mainframe days all of the BUNCH (Burroughs/Univac/NCR/Control Data/Honeywell) were either headquartered here or had major R&D divisions here. Seymour Cray (the legendary supercomputer designer) worked here for NCR, Univac and Control Data before founding Cray Research in Chippewa Falls, WI (where he had moved his CDC team several years earlier). IBM has a large facility an hour south in Rochester, where the Mayo Clinic is located. Although the mainframe days are long over, the companies and their employees have evolved into modern firms and created countless spinoffs in the region. The company I work for is a Fortune 500 company with plants and divisions in both Asia and Europe.

Best Buy as a large new headquarters campus about 5 miles west of MSP. USBank, Wells Fargo and Cargill (now part of a larger British firm) are all here. If you need a pacemaker after reading all these merger threads, it probably came from Medtronic. And the list goes on ....