Intel announces $7bn investment in Arizona factory in support of Trump’s policies

Intel will be investing $7 billion to finish a factory in Arizona, adding 3,000 jobs in support of government’s new tax and regulatory policies, said CEO Brian Krzanich after a meeting with President Donald Trump in the White House.

Intel’s new plans regarding its previously scrapped factory become all the more glaring in the light of the amicus brief that was recently filed by tech companies against Trump’s executive order that temporarily banned US entry for people from seven Muslim-majority nations. Intel too was one of the 130 companies that filed that legal brief. Earlier, Krzanich criticised the order on Twitter, declaring, “As a company co-founded by an immigrant, we support lawful immigration.”

Intel said it agrees with Trump’s desire to improve the investment climate for American manufacturers. “In places where we believe the policies are in the best interest of the company, we lean in,” Smith said. However in other areas, such as Trump’s desire to curb immigration and end free-trade agreements, Intel disagrees, and it is telling the White House so.

Intel’s strategy of engagement looks similar to that of Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla Motors and SpaceX, who serves on a presidential advisory council.

Arizona factory was conceived in 2011 but was scrapped in 2014 post drop in sales of PCs. The new plant will apparently build ultradense chips that Intel refers to as seven nanometers, with transistors packed more closely together than in the chips the company now builds.