Skip to content

Economic Development

Working Trends

Support for a Diverse, Modern Business Community

Several global Fortune 500 companies call Foster City their home, including VISA, the IBM Innovation Center, and pharmaceutical giant Gilead Sciences. However, it’s not just the titans who hail from Foster City... Many innovators have established thriving businesses here. Zoox is a trailblazer in autonomous driving vehicles, Illumina is a biotech pioneer, and Quantum Analytics is a major supplier of analytical systems.

What makes Foster City so great for business? Our companies have a competitive advantage, drawing on a highly-skilled and educated labor force, local service industries that support and benefit the business community, and are located in one of the most diverse, tech-savvy, culturally vibrant, and environmentally friendly areas in the country.

Industry Leaders

The top ten major employers in Foster City employ roughly 14,400 workers, accounting for over half of all workers in the City. Jobs with these firms are predominantly in the high-paying financial services and technology sectors.

1

Gilead Sciences

Gilead Sciences

Employees: 8,268

Biopharma Headquarters

2

Visa USA

Visa USA

Employees: 2,152

Company Headquarters

3

Innovant

Innovant

Employees: 867

Office & computer furniture

4

Zoox

Zoox

Employees: 530

Autonomous vehicles

5

CyberSource

CyberSource

Employees: 435

eCommerce gateway

6

Illumina

Illumina

Employees: 389

Genetic analysis

7

IBM Corporation

IBM

Employees: 367

Computer & IT consulting

8

City of Foster City logo

City of Foster City

Employees: 313

Municipal corporation

9

CSG Consultants

CSG Consultants

Employees: 289

Civil engineering consulting

10

Cyber security concept. Network protection.

Exambeam Inc

Employees: 269

Cyber Security Platform

Above data provided by the City of Foster City, 2020

Top 10 Commercial Properties

Gilead Sciences

one

BMR Lincoln Center LP

two

Hudson Metro Center LLC

three

Visa USA

four

Trust Parkside Towers Corp.

five

BEX FMCA LLC

six

SF Hillsdale LLC

seven

CV Triton LLC

eight

Northwestern Mutual Life

nine

Bayside Towers

ten

Above table based on assessed value and business license data. Source: City of Foster City, FY 2018-2019