‘There are 3bn new capitalists – the world’s economy has changed forever’

22 Apr 2010

Ireland needs to invest in skills and infrastructure to have a future, Ex-Intel CEO Craig Barrett says.

Had Craig Barrett embarked on his first choice of career – a forest ranger – would Ireland have attracted chip- manufacturing giant Intel with more than 4,000 jobs at its Fab in Leixlip 20-plus years ago?

Barrett, who is in Ireland this week to address the Engineers Ireland Annual Conference in Cork, led Intel as CEO at the height of the Nineties’ PC boom and the early days of the internet, becoming the company’s fourth president in 1997. It is a testament to Intel’s operations in Ireland that it now counts three Irishmen – Jim O’Hara, Eamonn Sinnott and Rory McInerney – as vice-presidents.

Watch a video of Craig Barrett talk about the future of research, technology and entrepreneurialism: icon: launch video

Now retired from Intel, Barrett takes a keen interest in Ireland’s development and has argued tirelessly that the country needs to be more entrepreneurial, turn its universities into economic wealth generators and, more than anything, produce more skilled talent.

Read more of ‘There are 3bn new capitalists – the world’s economy has changed forever’ at Digital 21.

By John Kennedy

Photo: After winning a scholarship to Stanford University, Craig Barrett’s career as an engineer allowed him to help a small Silicon Valley start-up called Intel become a multi-billion-dollar giant that enabled the PC and internet revolutions

www.digital21.ieDigital 21 is a campaign to highlight the imperative of creating an action programme to secure the digital infrastructure and services upon which the success of our economy depends.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com