After Tech Industry Dinner, Obama Heads To Intel

After a much publicized dinner with some of the tech industry's biggest names, President Barack Obama headed up to Oregon and visited Intel.

Obama went to Intel's large microprocessor factory in Hillsboro, Ore., and spoke to local students and high-tech factory workers. The site, which Intel says is one of the largest semiconductor research and manufacturing facilities in the world, played host to the President's latest speech on innovation. Over the past few weeks, the tech industry has been the focus of Obama's push for creating jobs.

It is a great honor to host President Obama. Our country and this company have been built on innovation, and manufacturing has been at the heart of America's economy for over a century. We share the President's belief that with a culture of innovation we can and will retain a vibrant economy based on industries of the future, Intel chief executive and president Paul Otellini said in a statement.

Otellini was recently named toPresident Obama's panel on jobs and competitiveness. The panel was created last month to help boost U.S. job creation and innovation, it is headed by General Electric Co. chief executive officer Jeffrey Immelt.

Intel showed off its Fab D1D, a wafer fabrication facility. It also said it plans to add 4,000 U.S. jobs in 2011, mainly in product development and R&D. Otellini also said Intel would invest $5 billion into building a new U.S. fabrication facility in Chandler, Ariz., to produce future microprocessors.

This new factory will play a central role in extending Intel's unquestioned leadership in semiconductor manufacturing, Otellini said. The transistors and chips it will produce will be the most dynamic platform for innovation that our company has ever created. Together they will enable more capable computers, the most advanced consumer electronics and mobile devices, the brains inside the next generation of robotics, and thousands of other applications that have yet to be invented.

The company, which is the largest private employer in Oregon, recently announced plans to spend $6-8 billion over several years to upgrade several facilities in the state. This would create 6,000-8,000 additional construction jobs during the building phase, Intel said.

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