The world’s largest chipmaker will invest $3 billion USD in a semiconductor plant to be built in Arizona.
Intel maintains a presence in Chandler, Arizona, currently, with its Ocotillo campus, according to the East Valley Tribune.
But by committing multi-billion dollar resources to establishing a plant that will build advanced chips, Intel gains the benefit of reduced state income taxes. Intel also sees the area as having the skilled workers it needs to staff the plant.
Unlike Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, who seems to want to raise her state’s taxes even higher, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano signed tax incentives into law.
Those incentives, worth significant tax savings to Intel, helped the chipmaker choose Arizona over other states. More importantly, 3,000 construction jobs will be needed to build the plant. Intel plans to have about 1,000 permanent jobs in place when the plant is completed.
“Intel is a tremendously important player in the Arizona economy,” Governor Napolitano said at a press conference. “I’m delighted that the hard work of this past legislative session has paid off, and on behalf of Arizona I’m grateful for Intel’s commitment to growth in our state.”
For once, it is good to see a high-tech business actually commit to building a new facility and creating new jobs in the United States instead of abroad. And certain technology business leaders might note that Intel doesn’t anticipate any problem filling its high-tech jobs.
David Utter is a staff writer for murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
