A curtain has been drawn across last Friday’s meeting (CI No 3,381) between Australian Prime Minister John Howard, Intel Corp president Craig Barrett and senior cabinet officials. Convened to discuss the possibility of establishing a massive Intel chip fabrication plant in Australia, the talk seems to have veered more towards the likelihood of Intel venture capital dollars finding their way into research and development. Nevertheless, Bob Mansfield, one-time chief of Optus Communications Pty Ltd and now the government’s strategic investment co-ordinator, will continue to pursue the possibility of the chip plant with Intel. The nature of tax concessions, subsidies and other incentives sought by Intel as a pre-requisite for investment in an Australian chip plant is not known, but Barrett’s bargaining position is quite strong, as other nations are queuing for the chip giant’s business.
