Shade in the summer is of some debate with some saying yes and others saying they garden without shade cloth just fine (but shade the soil with mulch).

IMHO there is no such thing as affordable hydroponics. Especially if you want to automate all the multiple times a day testing and adjusting and feeding required. Besides there is no fish to eat.

Where in AZ is important. Flagstaff vs Phoenix vs Tucson I think would be a big difference.

I moved to Phoenix 10 years ago from San Jose and it was a big adjustment garden wise. I had to forget everything I ever learned about gardening.

I grew 5 cherry tomato plants here once as a test. They seem to go dormant in summer exactly like they did in winter in San Jose. Leaves got smaller and smaller, fruit took weeks, months to ripen. For example green tomatoes in June were ripe in Nov, thick skin, taste more like ketchup.

Now that was a single test. Lots of people say they do grow tomatoes here in summer and I've seen a couple of pictures of plants doing well. But I have never seen one personally. When I've been invited to see a tomato that's doing great it was more like Charlie Brown's Xmas tree. For this climate the plant was doing great, and no small feat gardener wise. But in most areas of the US I think more people would compost such a plant.

There's an expectation gap thing I run into a lot. It takes a bit of adjustment.

I think shade/no shade are both correct. We're always right on the edge here. Adding shade in one spot might keep a plant alive, while 3 feet away no shade is better.

I have a community garden nearby which I walk thru regularly and currently there are some tomato plants still alive, but barely. Some people are using shade, some not. I don't see a big difference. I mean it may keep a plant alive, but I've not seen any "wow" differences. There's just a lot more stressing the plants here than just the sun. Humidity under 10% for long periods and we don't get cool nights.

Hydroponics might be possible but dormancy will happen/ To counteract the effect especially in 110 degree heat you can increase the frequency of watering plus shade the pots to prevent root destruction. BTW I am not doing hydroponics yet. But I thought off a few ideas for a ebb and flow syste,
1 33gal storage tank 7.99 HD
1 water pump 12.79 amazon
1 airpump+stone off craigs around 20$
5 HD 5 ga containers 2.70 each
1/4" pipe $5
connectors filters misc 15$
planting medium gydroton would be around 100$
PHmeter plus tds meter $50

As far as tomatoes go, I think the variety is the most important down here in the desert regions of AZ. I've planted a bunch of different type, and there's always 1 type that always gives me a ton of tomatoes over all others: Big Beef (it's a hybrid, so I'm guessing saving seeds doesn't work). Some others I may get 1-2 fruit on if I'm lucky.