Intel New Mexico
There’s a lot more to Intel than a cluster of buildings on Sandoval County land south of Sara Road and east of NM 528.
“Don’t be encumbered by history. Go off and do something wonderful,” is what Intel co-founder Robert Noyce once said, and that foreshadows what’s going on at the Rio Rancho campus.
Erika Edgerly, Intel’s director of public affairs in New Mexico, took virtual participants of Thursday morning’s NAIOP Rio Rancho Roundtable on a tour of the site and what’s behind the scenes, including a preview of the new $3.5 billion investment by the chipmaker at its Rio Rancho campus.
“We are in the era of distributed intelligence, where computing is pervasive,” she said, with “100 billion intelligent connected devices” worldwide.
The investment, announced May 3, comes with 700 new high-tech employees soon to be hired, 1,000 or so construction workers expected to build and renovate buildings and 3,500 “indirect jobs.”
She said the expected completion date is sometime in 2023, for the manufacture of what was originally a code name: Foveros, “Intel’s innovation in packaging, memory and interconnect,”
Rio Rancho Mayor Gregg Hull said in light of the thousands of workers moving here to stay or at least reside temporarily, the city’s current housing boom that will boom even more. All that has a “cascading effect,” he said, around the city and county.
Edgerly echoed that sentiment: “It’s critically important to have ongoing partnerships,” which Intel has enjoyed for four decades with the city, county and state.
Edgerly provided a plethora of numbers:
• 1,800+ — Intel’s “direct employees”;
• 9,000+ — Total New Mexico jobs supported by Intel;
• $600 million — Intel’s annual labor contribution;
• $8.5 million-plus — Intel and Intel Foundation’s contribution since 2016 to support New Mexico schools and nonprofits;
• 106,950 — hours volunteered by employees in community service projects;
• $375,000 – Intel’s contribution for COVID-19 relief;
• 65,000-plus — personal protective equipment items donated;
• 2.86 billion gallons — water withdrawn in 2020;
• 2.67 billion gallons — water returned in 2020;
• 1.37 billion gallons — water conserved in 2020; and
• 142 million gallons — water restored in 2020.
Intel funded two water restoration projects in the state, Edgerly said, “which restore more than 140 million gallons each year.”
Although the firm’s Fab 7 and Fab 11X plants have been going continuously during the pandemic, Fab 9, which she said has been shuttered for several years will return to full service soon.
Edgerly noted that an estimated 10 percent of Intel’s work force in the state is comprised of veterans — and the company is hiring. Information on the types of jobs available and what Intel is seeking are available at intel.com/nmjobs.
