Our commitment to innovation

From its beginning, Intel has been committed to innovation. In 1971, Intel invented the microprocessor, transforming the world forever and laying the foundation for the personal computing revolution, the Internet, and much more.

Today, Intel continues to push the limits of innovation to make people's lives more exciting, fulfilling, and manageable. Consider the following:

• Year after year, Intel® microprocessors have gotten faster, more efficient, more powerful, and yet more affordable. This is the product of a phenomenon known as Moore’s Law, after Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, who observed that the number of transistors that could be placed on a silicon chip doubled every one to two years.

• Intel remains at the forefront of Moore’s Law. Our next-generation 22 nanometer technology-based Intel microprocessors, in production since late 2011, are enabling never-before-seen levels of performance, capability, and energy-efficiency in a range of computing devices.

• Three-fourths of Intel’s leading-edge microprocessor manufacturing is done in the U.S. – despite three-fourths of the company’s revenues coming from outside the U.S. Three-fourths of Intel’s combined R&D and capital investment is also in the U.S.

• In October, 2010, Intel announced plans to spend $6-8 billion in U.S. manufacturing facilities to support technology advancements in Arizona and Oregon. These investments would support 6,000 construction jobs and 800 permanent high-tech jobs.

• In February, 2011, Intel announced plans to invest more than $5 billion to build a new wafer fabrication facility at our site in Chandler, Arizona. When completed, Fab 42 will be the world’s most advanced, high-volume semiconductor manufacturing facility. The project will create thousands of construction and permanent manufacturing jobs at Intel’s Arizona site.

• In February 2011, construction also commenced on a new development fab in Hillsboro, Ore., expected to develop the 14nm process. Meanwhile, Intel is currently upgrading four fabs to manufacture on the 22nm node. Those factories currently being upgraded include D1C in Oregon, and Fabs 12 and 32 in Arizona.

• These new investments build on earlier ones. When including R&D investment and capital expenditures, Intel invested $82 billion in U.S.-based innovation over the last 10 years. In 2011 alone, these investments totaled over $13 billion.

Rebuilding the foundations of American growth

On February 23, 2010, at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., Intel CEO Paul Otellini announced the Invest in America Alliance, an Intel-led initiative that aims to help anchor the nation's competiveness on the global stage. The Alliance is a two-pronged effort that begins with a $200 million Intel Capital Invest in America Technology Fund and funding commitments from several leading venture capital firms to invest $3.5 billion in US-based technology companies over the next two years. The Alliance also includes several other US corporations that have committed to significantly increasing the number of jobs offered to new college graduates in 2010. Read more >

Leading in an innovation economy

Since 2009, Intel has led a sustained effort to stimulate conversation and generate ideas among our nation’s thought leaders on ways we can build what we call The Innovation Economy – a future where American innovation is cultivated at every level of government, business, and society. In 2009 in Washington, D.C., Intel hosted the Innovation Economy Conference in partnership with the Aspen Institute, the PBS NewsHour, and Democracy: A Journal of Ideas. The conference brought together leaders from government, academia, business, journalism, and the arts to discuss how we can maintain the innovation necessary for economic recovery, sustained growth, and long-term competitiveness.

In 2010, Intel, with the Aspen Institute, conducted a series of forums on the link between education and innovation. In December 2010, with Aspen, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), and the PBS NewsHour, Intel hosted “Education for Innovation: A Digital Town Hall”, a half-day conversation on the important role education plays in keeping our nation innovative and globally competitive.

We continued these forums in 2011 with a focus on global markets, trade, and the increasing flow of information among economies and societies. And in 2012, again in partnership with the Aspen Institute, we held a series of discussion forums focused on identifying an innovation agenda for the beginning of the next Presidential term. Explore highlights from these and other Innovation Economy events at www.theInnovationEconomy.org.