It's rare that Intel throws open the doors at its 450-acre Hillsboro campus.
But that's exactly what happened early Monday, when the semiconductor giant hosted an event celebrating the opening of the $3 billion expansion of its D1X facility.
On hand were Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) CEO Pat Gelsinger, General Manager of Technology Development Ann Kelleher, U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown.
Malia Spencer, who covers technology for the Portland Business Journal, has the details of the Mod3 expansion and Intel's plan to maintain its Hillsboro campus as the "leading edge" of its research and development efforts.
Many of the comments at Monday's event were focused on those efforts.
Sen. Wyden talked about the FABS Act, which he co-introduced.
“What we’re focused on is building a full toolkit for America to lead in semiconductors. That means research, which very often involves grants, and it also means changes in tax policy," Wyden said. "So I have introduced the FABS legislation to provide meaningful, long term tax incentives to bolster domestic manufacturing. And we are going to work to get as much of this into the China competitiveness bill as quickly as possible.”
Wyden and Brown talked about the work of the newly formed Oregon Semiconductor Competitiveness Taskforce. The taskforce, which held its first meeting in March, is focused on exploring ways to help the industry grow in Oregon.
Gelsinger repeatedly referred to Intel's Oregon operation as the company's crown jewel. He said Intel invested more than $15 billion in R&D in the last year, with the largest share of that in Oregon. He thanked state and congressional leaders in attendance for the work to boost the U.S. semiconductor industry so far, but said there's more to do.
"You've heard several of our elected leaders talk about the Bipartisan Innovation Act and the FABS Act," Gelsinger said. "But there's one more thing you need to work on and that is the R&D deductibility. For the first time in I think 70 years that would not be deductible. We would have the most regression R&D policies of any advanced nation in the world. We do hope that Congress can get these done to continue to ensure ... the U.S. continues its leadership position for the world. It's not just innovation. It's manufacturing."
