Intel’s Irish plant could get hi-tech jobs boost

Hundreds of new jobs could be in the pipeline for Kildare after Intel chose its plant in Leixlip as one of three places where it will create its future generation of chips.

It was reported last night that a new production line could be required meaning a multimillion, if not billion, euro investment here.

While the company has confirmed a role for Ireland in the production of the new chips it has not said when any investment would take place or how many jobs would result.

Last October, it was reported Ireland and Israel were battling to win a €3.4bn Intel investment to build a computer chip manufacturing facility, creating up to 1,300 jobs.

Last night RTÉ reported that the new breakthrough for Leixlip came when Intel president, Paul Ottelini, told investors Ireland, along with Arizona and Oregon, would be one of three new manufacturing bases for next generation 14 nanometer chips or their successors.

Meanwhile, Hewlett Packard has confirmed it is seeking 27,000 redundancies worldwide. The company has operations in Galway and Leixlip.