Intel gives vote of confidence to region’s high-tech sector

It’s more than a real estate deal. Intel Corp.’s Sept. 15 announcement that it would purchase the soon-to-be-vacant Celestica Colorado building on East Harmony Road signals a vote of confidence in Northern Colorado as a high-tech hub even as the region continues to lose technology jobs.

Those losses are well-documented. Most notably, Celestica is abandoning Fort Collins and laying off about 800 full-time and part-time workers. LSI Logic Corp. has pared its local payroll dramatically. Hewlett-Packard Co. and Agilent Technologies continue to slash their work forces worldwide, though the local impact is unclear. Advanced Energy Industries Inc. has cut hundreds of jobs over the years. Etc., etc.

In steps Intel, which late last year purchased the Itanium processor operation from HP, along with a couple-hundred jobs. Intel has since leased space from HP, and numerous local communities were vying for the company’s permanent location.

All questions were answered Sept. 15, at an announcement of the Celestica acquisition at Fort Collins City Hall, followed by another announcement at Bixpo 2005, just prior to former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani’s keynote address.

Intel’s purchase of the Celestica plant is, of course, a real estate deal, one that prevents the 200,000-square-foot building at 4701 Technology Parkway from sliding into disrepair when Celestica vacates the plant later this year. Inevitably, a building that sits vacant will deteriorate, making it that much harder to lease in the future. Fortunately, that won’t happen with the Celestica building.

Beyond that, Intel’s investment indicates that it is committed to a presence in Northern Colorado. And the very size of the Celestica building would seem to portend bigger things ahead: Intel’s 200 to 300 workers don’t need a cavernous building of 200,000 square feet, hopefully signaling additional hiring in the future.

Intel’s announcements were made with officials from the Northern Colorado Economic Development Corp., the city of Fort Collins and Intel itself. All deserve ample credit for making this deal happen.

For the NCEDC, Intel’s Celestica purchase is another valuable business brought to – or retained in – Fort Collins. That it’s another high-tech company is so much the better.

For the city of Fort Collins, which has struggled over the years with an anti-business image, the deal represented a terrific opportunity to dispel its negative reputation and make known that it’s open for good, quality business – all with the unanimous support of the City Council.

And for Intel, it was able to purchase a quality building in a region bursting with tech workers displaced by other companies.

And for Northern Colorado, Intel’s decision allows it to boast of some of the world’s premier high-tech companies still calling the region home: Agilent, HP, LSI, Intel, Advanced Energy Industries Inc.

Northern Colorado still has a lot of work to do in replacing the thousands of jobs lost in the high-tech sector. But Intel’s decision is one step in the right direction.

Christopher Wood can be reached at (970) 221-5400, (970) 221-5432 or via e-mail at cwood@ncbr.com. His fax number is (970) 221-5432.

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