WASHINGTON—Intel chief executive Brian Krzanich (above) met moments ago with President Donald Trump, Wednesday, February 8, 2017, where the company announced it will invest $7 billion in a factory employing up to 3,000 people to manufacture “the most advanced chip on the planet.“
The factory is in Arizona, the company said, and over 10,000 people in the Arizona area will support the factory. Krzanich confirmed to CNBC that this investment would be in a previous plant, Fab 42, that was started and then left vacant.
The chips will be produced there will be “the most powerful computer chips on the planet,” Krzanich said in the Oval Office with the Trump administration. Most Intel manufacturing happens in the U.S., Krzanich said.
It comes as the technology industry has pushed back against the Trump administration, amid mounting pressure to move manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. There will be no incentives from the federal government for the Intel project, the White House said.
Intel was one of more than 100 companies that joined together to file a legal brief opposing Trump’s temporary travel ban from seven Muslim-majority nations.
The White House mentioned earlier that Vice President Mike Pence would speak on Wednesday with Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, a member of Trump’s business advisory council, whose companies had also signed onto the brief.
Intel is the largest private employer in Arizona and has been criticized in conservative publications for laying off thousands of staffers, despite an influx of visa requests.
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