Obama touts high tech, business investment at Intel in Oregon
| Ashland, Ore.
President Obama鈥檚 brief visit to an Intel Corp. manufacturing plant in Oregon Friday 鈥� the morning after his Thursday dinner meeting with Silicon Valley鈥檚 top CEOs 鈥� serves two purposes. It gives him another chance to push education and the high-tech industry, and it鈥檚 an important buddy moment with a Republican business executive who鈥檚 been critical of the administration.
Both are intended to boost the country鈥檚 long-term economic recovery 鈥� and, not incidentally, advance Mr. Obama鈥檚 image as a pro-business president.
Oregon may be known for timber and salmon 鈥� its major state universities are nicknamed the 鈥�Beavers鈥� and the 鈥�Ducks鈥� 鈥� but in recent years high-tech has replaced logging as the major industry here.
RELATED: American innovation: 13 born-in-the-USA inventions
Intel is headquartered in Silicon Valley, but its largest manufacturing plant is in Hillsboro, Ore., just west of Portland. The company employs 15,000 people in Oregon with an annual payroll approaching $2 billion, making it the largest employer in the state.
In his State of the Union speech last month, Obama called on the country to 鈥渙ut-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world.鈥� He鈥檚 pledged to prepare an additional 100,000 science, technology, engineering, and math teachers by the end of the decade.
That鈥檚 where Intel comes in.
In addition to touring the semiconductor facility, Obama is promoting the company鈥檚 STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education programs.
鈥淥ver the past decade, Intel and the Intel Foundation have invested more than $1 billion toward improving education,鈥� the White House points out in a briefing document. 鈥淚n 2010, in conjunction with President Obama鈥檚 Educate to Innovate campaign, Intel announced a 10-year, $200 million commitment to advance education in math and science in the US. Intel is also one of four founding companies of Change the Equation, a CEO-led initiative designed to answer the president鈥檚 call to move the US to the top in science and math education over the next decade.鈥�
Last summer, Intel announced plans to build a new 1.8 million-square-foot research facility in Hillsboro, in addition to upgrading four computer chip-manufacturing facilities 鈥� two in Arizona and two in Oregon 鈥� creating some 6,000 to 8,000 construction jobs and then 800 to 1,000 permanent research and technical positions.
All of this is just what Obama wants to see happen as the country pulls out of its economic doldrums. It鈥檚 especially welcome in Oregon, which has been particularly hard hit by the downturn and still has an unemployment rate above 10 percent.
In a private dinner Thursday evening, Obama was joined by Eric Schmidt of Google, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, and Steve Jobs of Apple, as well as the chief executives of Yahoo!, Oracle, NetFlix, and Twitter, and the president of Stanford University.
The Oregon visit continues the same theme, while also reaching out to a top-level Republican CEO who has been critical of the Obama administration 鈥� particularly its program to stimulate the economy by helping fund local construction projects.
"Swimming pools in Mississippi are not going to create lasting jobs," Intel CEO Paul Otellini told CNN last fall.
Looking beyond such criticisms, Obama Friday named Mr. Otellini to his Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, which is headed by GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt.
In their meeting, the two men praised each other.
鈥淚 want to commend the president for his leadership and focus on improving our science, technology, engineering, and math education,鈥� Otellini said. 鈥淗e has taken actions 鈥� including key steps like making STEM a priority 鈥� in his $4 billion Race to the Top competition and his Educate to Innovate campaign.鈥�
Obama noted that three-fourths of Intel鈥檚 employees are in the United States.
"This year you鈥檒l hire another 4,000 American workers. You鈥檒l create good construction jobs upgrading your facilities and building new plants in Arizona and right here in Oregon," Obama said. "And this kind of commitment has always been part of Intel鈥檚 philosophy."
In his speech to the US Chamber of Commerce last week, Obama urged business leaders to 鈥渋nvest in America鈥� now rather than sit on the nearly $2 trillion they have in reserve.
鈥淎s all of you know, it鈥檚 investments made now that will pay off as the economy rebounds,鈥� Obama told the business organization. 鈥淎nd as you hire, you know that more Americans working will mean more sales for your companies.鈥�
Obama continues his economic tub-thumping next week in Cleveland, where he鈥檒l attend the 鈥淲inning the Future Forum on Small Business.鈥�
