Editing Markham, Ontario (section)

==Economy==
[[File:AMD50Markham.jpg|thumb|Markham mayor Frank Scarpitti at the AMD Markham campus during the AMD 50th Anniversary celebration.]]
In the 19th century Markham had a vibrant, independent community with mills, distilleries and breweries around the intersection of Highway 7 and Markham Road. The [[Thomas Speight Wagon Works]] exported products (wagons, horsecars) around the world, and Markham had a reputation as being more active than York (the former name for Toronto) early on. Most of these industries disappeared leaving farming as the main source of business.

Light industries and businesses began to move into Markham in the 1980s attracted by land and lower taxes. Today, it claims to be "Canada's Hi-Tech Capital" with a number of key companies in the area, such as IBM, Motorola, Toshiba, [[Honeywell]], Apple, [[Genesis Microchip]], and is home to the head office of graphics card producer [[ATI Technologies]] (in 2006 merged with AMD). Over 1,100 technology and life science companies have offices in Markham, employing over one fifth of the total workforce.<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.markham.ca/wps/portal/Markham/AboutMarkham/FactsStats/|title = Statistics and Demographics |date = 2014|archive-date =November 20, 2015|publisher = City of Markham |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151120151742/https://www.markham.ca/wps/portal/Markham/AboutMarkham/FactsStats/|url-status = live}}</ref> In 2014, the top five employers in the city in order were IBM Canada, the City of Markham, [[Toronto-Dominion Bank|TD Waterhouse Inc.]], [[Markham Stouffville Hospital]] and [[Advanced Micro Devices|AMD Technologies Inc.]]<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.markham.ca/wps/wcm/connect/markhampublic/52006a11-f337-4f10-96d8-5cb65ec499cd/Top+100+Employers+in+Markham+%282014%29.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=52006a11-f337-4f10-96d8-5cb65ec499cd|title = Top 100 Employers in Markham, 2014|date = April 2015 |publisher= City of Markham|archive-date =September 14, 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150914035501/http://www.markham.ca/wps/wcm/connect/markhampublic/52006a11-f337-4f10-96d8-5cb65ec499cd/Top+100+Employers+in+Markham+%282014%29.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=52006a11-f337-4f10-96d8-5cb65ec499cd|url-status = live}}</ref>

International Franchise Inc., which owns brands including [[Swensen's]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Contact Us |url=https://swensensicecream.com/contact/ |website=Swensen's Ice Cream |publisher=Swensen's |access-date=December 13, 2023}}</ref> and [[Yogen Früz]]<ref>"[http://www.yogenfruz.com/contact-us/ Contact Us] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190710053336/https://www.yogenfruz.com/contact-us/ |date=July 10, 2019}}." [[Yogen Früz]]. Retrieved on March 15, 2014. "Yogen Früz headquarters 210 Shields Court; Markham, Ontario L3R 8V2, Canada"</ref> and several others, has its headquarters in Markham.<ref>{{cite web |title=About Us |url=https://www.ifranchiseinc.com/about-us/ |publisher=International Franchise Inc. |access-date=December 13, 2023}}</ref>

[[General Motors Canada#Canadian Technical Centre|General Motors Canada Canadian Technical Centre]] has been located in Markham since 2017, in the building which was formerly the Canadian head office of [[American Express]] from 1985 to 2015.