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A comment on Intel breaks ground on $20B Arizona plants as U.S. chip factory race heats up. Parent comment

Re:Intel breaks ground on $20B Arizona plants as U.S. chip f... by dandotway on Wednesday September 29, 2021 @11:39AM (#28695180)
> Unfortunately Central Washington is part of a state that is known for erratic, wild, and unpredictable whims when it comes to any company whose name isn't "Boeing"

Microsoft, Amazon, Nintendo, etc., have a strong WA presence and what has WA done to them that is 'unpredictable'? WA has no state income tax and is very billionaire and business friendly. You are perhaps thinking of Seattle politics, but Seattle!=WA. WA votes very blue during elections but it's for the pro-wealthy billionaire-friendly blues. WA doesn't elect the AOC squad type blues.

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Re:Intel breaks ground on $20B Arizona plants as U.S. chip f... by KirillPanov on Wednesday September 29, 2021 @06:11PM (#28700656)
Microsoft and Amazon are software/cloud companies; they can pick up and move on a whim and Olympia knows it.

Manufacturing is much more vulnerable, over much longer timescales.

King County runs the state and everybody knows it. I don't like it, but I don't delude myself either.

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Re:Intel breaks ground on $20B Arizona plants as U.S. chip f... by dandotway on Wednesday September 29, 2021 @06:43PM (#28700930)
Well, you can't exactly relocate a campus with 5,000-10,000 employees to another state 'on a whim', but yeah, your point still stands that it's a lot easier than moving a factory that builds physical things.

I recall IBM and other tech companies being called out for occasionally deliberately moving campuses to other states because this creates an excuse to sever certain employees who can't otherwise be lawfully fired.

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