While on his U.S. tour the new president Solis is looking to dispel uncertainties about the economic direction of the country and the treatment to be given to foreign investment.
An article on Estrategiaynegocios.net reports that President Luis Guillermo Solis said "... I would like to bring the message that Costa Rica remains a reliable destination for foreign investment despite recent investment losses by Intel and Bank of America."
The CEO of the multinational confirmed that the closure of the plant did not respond to reasons of global strategy but to the high operating costs in the country.
An article in Crhoy.com reports that in a presentation for employees of the company, the executive director of Intel, Brian Krzanich said that "the decision in Costa Rica was not part of plans to reduce the company's overall payroll but 'had more to do with the cost of this operation, the long-term operational cost of the plant. We spent several years working with the Government of Costa Rica, trying to reduce the overall cost of this operation.'"
On 7th and 8th of November 150 participants from the U.S. and Latin America will gather together during the first Central American summit on outsourcing services to be held in Nicaragua.
From information published by ProNicaragua:
ProNicaragua, the official investment and export promoter of the Government of Nicaragua, will be organizing the first Central American summit on outsourcing services entitled 'Central American Nearshore Summit 2013, which will bring together 150 participants from the U.S. and Latin America in this sector.
From 23 to July 26 Latin American telecommunications executives will meet in Panama to discuss how to close the digital divide in the region.
From a press release by the Telecommunications Congress:
Ministers from governments and regulating authorities, CEO's of telecommunications companies, innovators and executives from the private sector, academic experts and representatives from international organizations will participate in a high level meeting related to the XXIII Latin American Summit of Heads of State and Government , which will analyze the challenges facing Latin America and the Caribbean in closing the digital divide by 2020.
Driven by exports from free zones and stable prices, the country's growth has exceeded all expectations.
The main exports were from the electronics industry, represented mainly by Intel. Foreign sales from this sector increased by 43% in the first 6 months of 2012 compared with the same period last year, and contributed more than 25% to the total export growth.
The processor giant will invest $80 million in equipment upgrades at its plant in Belen, Heredia, in order to produce a new chip.
Modernization is necessary for the production of a more advanced chip and for optimizing the plant’s infrastructure, said Mike Forrest, general manager of Intel Costa Rica to Nacion.com.
"Intel introduces new technology every two years, in order to ensure that the factory has the latest advanced equipment for chip assembly", said Forrest.
With an investment of $ 8 million, the transnational opened a Center in the Belen area.
The new Engineering Development Center (IDC), comprising of 300 engineers and technicians in systems designs, develops and tests company hardware and software.
Nacion.com reported statements of the general manager of Intel in Costa Rica, Michael Forrest, "Intel Costa Rica expects for the Center to continue growing in both number of engineers and technicians as well as complexity of tasks".
The company moved this operation to factories in Asia, because it wants to concentrate its Costa Rican facility in the production of server microprocessors.
The chipset assembly plant had been installed in Costa Rica in 2003, adding to a server production facility and a distribution center. Intel already has chipset plants in Malaysia and China.
The article by Juan Fernando Lara, from Nacion.com, reported that corporate affairs manager for Intel Costa Rica, Karla White, said: "The process of taking chipsets from Costa Rica responds to increased demand among corporate server customers. There is growing awareness in the world that new technologies offer increased energy efficiency and data processing, which increases demand in the server market for data centers".
Six Central American companies are included on the America Economia's Ranking of the 500 largest companies in Latin America.
Listed in 178th place RECOPE, Costa Rica’s Oil Refinery, is the Central American company with the highest sales, totaling $2,701 million.
Follow Intel in Costa Rica with $ 2,101 Million, Panama Canal Authority (ACP), with $ 2,000 million, Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (Costa Rica Power Company) with $ 1,822 million and completing the list, the two main regional airlines Copa Airlines with sales of $ 1,253 million and Grupo Taca with $ 940 million.
During 2010, the multinational corporation will invest in new machinery to assemble and test microprocessors.
By the end of 2010, the company will have invested a total $700 million in its 13 years operating in the country.
Karla Blanco, Intel's Corporate Relations director, told Nacion.com: "... this year we will update the technology used to assemble 32 nanometer chips and to begin producing 22 nanometer ones".
In alliance with partner company Yota, Samsung Electronics will offer mobile Internet in the country starting May 2010.
Russian corporation Yota won the public bidding process to supply Nicaragua with WiMAX telecommunications services.
"Yota will start its Nicaraguan operation by offering wireless broadband Internet. They will then increase the number of services provided, while focusing on high quality voice services", reported Elmundo.es.
Exports from Intel's Costa Rican facility increased 18% year-over-year, reaching $595 million.
Karla Blanco, Intel's corporate relations head, commented there is a very positive trend in the mobile products area (laptops and mobile phones), in which the Atom processor plays an important role.
Blanco added, as published by Insidecostarica.com, that "Intel's Costa Rica plant has had to increase production due to the closing of three company factories in Asia".
In Costa Rica, multinational companies are worrying for delays in the law that modifies fiscal incentives at free ports.
Two articles in Nacion.com reveal Intel's and Bridgestone's concern for insecurity in investment planning caused by delays in the approval of the law, which is being studied by Congress.
Michael Forrest, general manager at Intel Costa Rica, explained the need to have certainties regarding the fiscal conditions of the new regime for planning long-term investments: "Countries in which we invest must provide confidence, political stability and understanding of the fiscal matter. If there is uncertainty in any of these aspects, doubts arise and we must look elsewhere".
The transnational will transfer the manufacture of some of its products to the country beginning in September.
Said products were being manufactured at its plants in Asia (Malaysia and Philippines), which were closed at the beginning of the year due to the crisis.
Hassel Fallas wrote in the Nación website: "The lines of products that will be transferred are microprocessors for servers, central processing units (CPUs) for desktop computers and chipsets, which are a computer’s "nervous system."
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