Intel has announced mega investment plans to the tune of $7 billion in the US to set up a chip manufacturing facility in Arizona. The announcement made post a high-profile meeting with President Trump will also create thousands of skilled manufacturing jobs as well, and is seen as the result of intense efforts on part of the President to create jobs in the country.
The announcement however shouldn’t come as much of a surprise considering that the chipmaker’s latest investment plans were already in place and can largely be seen as an extension of its existing facilities in Arizona. Interestingly enough, the announcement comes at a time when Trump is already under fire from the Silicon Valley companies over his recent policies regarding H1B visa and immigration ban.
Intel CEO Brian Krzanich though hailed the current administration for doling out tax sops along with other regulatory relaxations that he said is the reason that they have been able to venture forth with the extension. Krzanich said they had actually stopped fresh investments in their Arizona plant but the support from the current administration has prodded them to start afresh.
In fact, the factory referred to as Fab 42 was complete back in 2012 itself but was never put to use. Intel’s efforts were also lauded by Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama as well which he had said will work towards creating more jobs in the US.
However, it is going to be at least three to four years before it is able to produce chips on an industrial scale. The next generation chips will be used in emerging sectors like automobiles, drones or the health sector. The chips will also see application in the 5G network segment.
Intel is seeking fresh market to seek growth as its traditional stronghold; the computer segment is fast reaching maturation levels. The company is already under immense pressure from the likes of AMD that has emerged as a formidable player in the mobile industry.
While Intel continues to make efforts to break into the burgeoning mobile computing segment, it has identified the driverless cars as another future growth segment. Towards that, the chipmaker has already inked deals with several carmakers or other firms like Delphi to have its chips drive the autonomous car tech of future.
