Intel Corp. announced multimillion-dollar expansion plans Thursday, bringing good news to Colorado Springs and Fort Collins.
The Santa Clara, Calif., chipmaker will spend up to $190 million to expand its Colorado Springs facility. The upgrade is in addition to a $400 million improvement project announced last year.
The company also announced the purchase of a building at 4701 Technology Parkway in Fort Collins to relocate its 250-member design-center team.
Intel employs 900 people in Colorado Springs. The expansion there is expected to add “several hundred more” by 2008, when the project is scheduled to be completed, the company said. Intel is the 18th-largest employer in the city, but the expansion will move it into the top 10.
Company spokeswoman Judy Cara said Intel has filled some new positions and is hiring in Colorado Springs.
Intel is building a second clean room in Colorado Springs to further assist in the inspection and final manufacturing stages of chip production. The latest investment will allow the clean room to produce communications products for laptops that enhance Wi-Fi access and battery life.
“We’re moving into a platform strategy,” Cara said. “Instead of just making one little chip, you’re actually putting several things together that make a product work more efficiently.”
Last year, Colorado Springs received more than $1 million in taxes from Intel, said Mike Kazmierski, president and chief executive of the Greater Colorado Springs Economic Development Corp. The $190 million investment is expected to generate more than $10 million in tax revenue, he said.
The Fort Collins building was previously owned by Celestica, a Toronto-based high-tech manufacturer that shut down operations in the city early this year.
In December, Intel hired 175 employees of Hewlett-Packard’s Itanium processor-design team, also based in Fort Collins, and merged the group. They will relocate to the Celestica building sometime next year.
Staff writer Kimberly S. Johnson can be reached at 303-820-1088 or kjohnson@denverpost.com.
