On Wednesday, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich unveiled plans to complete an advanced semiconductor factory in Chandler, Arizona, from the Oval Office, standing next to President Trump. Intel, the world's largest computer chip maker, broke ground on the plant in 2011 (former President Barack Obama visited in 2012), but Intel suspended the project when the PC market hit a slump. Krzanich said the company decided to make this $7 billion investment now because of "the tax and regulatory policies we see the administration pushing forward."
In a note to employees, Krzanich said Intel had coordinated the unveiling with the White House starting a few weeks ago to signal support for the parts of Trump's agenda that benefit Intel, like the push to make U.S. manufacturing more globally competitive. But "when we disagree, we don't walk away," he added.
Intel and other big Silicon Valley companies have signed on to a legal brief opposing Trump's executive order banning travel and immigration from seven majority-Muslim nations, but many of them are in favor of Trump's proposed corporate tax breaks and seek incentives for research and development. Intel also wants the federal government to scale back restrictions on exporting certain types of advanced chip technology, The New York Times notes, specifically regulations that "forbid the company from making its high-end processors in China." About half of Intel's 106,000 employees are in the U.S.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
October 19 editorial cartoonsCartoons Sunday's editorial cartoons include Pete Hegseth and the press, an absence of government, and George Washington crossing the Delaware
-
A little-visited Indian Ocean archipelagoThe Week Recommends The paradise of the Union of the Comoros features beautiful beaches, colourful coral reefs and lush forests
-
AI: is the bubble about to burst?In the Spotlight Stock market ever-more reliant on tech stocks whose value relies on assumptions of continued growth and easy financing
-
Gold tops $4K per ounce, signaling financial uneaseSpeed Read Investors are worried about President Donald Trump’s trade war
-
Electronic Arts to go private in record $55B dealspeed read The video game giant is behind ‘The Sims’ and ‘Madden NFL’
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
