the high-tech industry in the portland area dates back to at least the 1940s, with tektronix and electro scientific industries as pioneers. tektronix and esi both started out in portland proper, but moved to washington county in 1951 and 1962, respectively, and developed sites designed to attract other high-tech companies. floating point systems, co-founded by three former tektronix employees in beaverton in 1970, was the first spin-off company in silicon forest and the third (after tek and esi) to be traded on the nyse. these three companies, and later intel, led to the creation of a number of other spin-offs and startups, some of which were remarkably successful. a 2003 dissertation on these spin-offs led to a poster depicting the genealogy of 894 silicon forest companies. high-tech employment in the state reached a peak of almost 73,000 in 2001, but has never recovered from the dot-com bust. statewide, tech employment totaled 57,000 in the spring of 2012.