One day in 2004, Dr. Craig R. Barrett, CEO of Intel Corporation, visited Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning Province, and lectured for the local government and leaders from industrial, commercial, and educational circles. It was his tenth visit to China.
Intel's cooperation with China originated in the 1990s. In March 1995, Intel announced its decision to start joint ventures in China to produce integrated circuit chips. Then it established a production base for the Pentium 4 processor at the Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone in Shanghai. From two years ago, when Intel invested another $100 million in the expansion of its Shanghai company and began to produce 0.13-micron Pentium 4 chips to supply the global market, Intel's Shanghai establishment has possessed the capability of packaging and testing the best desktop microprocessors on the global market.
According to Barrett, supplying the global market with products made in China is Intel's strategy for long-term development.
In addition to Shanghai, Intel has also carried out cooperation with other Chinese provinces and cities in terms of production, research and development, trials, and education.
Recently, Intel announced an educational program launched in China jointly with the Chinese Association for Science and Technology (CAST). Different from the traditional in-class teaching mode, this program is based on extra-curriculum, community training courses and targeted to juveniles. At the opening ceremony for the program, Barrett pointed out that in order to stay ahead of economic globalization, China should be aware of the importance of training students to master relevant technology and skills. The government should realize that technology can alter a country's social and economic prospects, he said, and in fact China has so far entered the front line in this field. This is also the reason why Intel chose China to first launch this educational program.
Sixty-five years old, Barrett will soon step down as Intel's CEO, but he plans on remaining a member of the board.
Barrett has long advocated full exploitation of information technology (IT) so
as to reinforce regional competitive capability in an expanding era in the global digital economy. Based on his communications with China over more than ten years, Barrett highly praised China's attitude and measures taken in science and technology. The use of technology is expanding in China, he said, and those enterprises hoping to find a place in the global market are accelerating their technological implementation in order to strengthen their competitive advantages. Digital technology and the integration of computing and communications have induced reforms in business operation and changes in information supply and consumption on a global scale.
In order to create an even more splendid future, Barrett said, China's northeastern provinces have increased investment in computing and communications infrastructures, worked out favorable policies, and allocated more funds in R&D and education.
In order to demonstrate Intel's confidence in the future of northeastern China, Barrett revealed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation signed with China's leading software solution supplier. According to the memorandum, the two corporations will establish a solution innovation center in Beijing and a product research lab in Shenyang. These establishments will be committed to creating reliable computing environments, developing important Internet technology for the next generation, and supporting the modernization of the regional manufacture industry.
Concerning the local governments' strategies of investing in newly rising industries, commercializing new technologies, and establishing technological research centers, Barrett commends these as important steps forward. The development of the Internet continues, he said, and the speed of technological progress has never slowed down. The reforms brought by the deployment of information technology will create a series of new competence for the region, including wireless network connection, collaborative capability, business analysis ability, strong security, and profound management ability.
ndividuals, enterprises, governments, and society. Through accelerating the investment in IT infrastructures and education, China will be able to better grasp the market and multiply its opportunities in economic globalization.
About Dr. Craig R. Barrett:
Dr. Craig R. Barrett was born in San Francisco, California, on August 29, 1939. From 1957 through 1964, he studied at Stanford University and received a Bachelor's of Science, Master's of Science, and a Ph.D. in Materials Science. After graduation, he joined the faculty of Stanford in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and remained through 1974. Barrett was a fellow at the Danish Technical University in Denmark in 1972 and a postdoctoral fellow at the National Physical Laboratory in England from 1964 through 1965.
Barrett joined Intel Corporation in 1974 as a technology development manager. He was named vice president of the corporation in 1984, was promoted to senior vice president in 1987, and became executive vice president in 1990. Barrett was elected onto Intel's board of directors in 1992 and was named the corporation's chief operating officer in 1993. In May 1997, he became Intel's fourth president. In May 1998, he assumed the post of Intel's CEO.
(Xinhua News Agency February 4, 2005)
