Intel’s Oregon headcount up 5%, hits new record

PORTLAND — Oregon’s largest private employer keeps getting bigger.

Intel now employs 19,500 in Washington County, an all-time high. The chipmaker’s headcount has grown by 900 jobs, 5 percent, since last summer, according to numbers Intel provided to Washington County.

The company’s Oregon work force is growing even as its overall headcount remains flat at 107,000, meaning that a growing share of Intel’s work is done in Oregon. Though its headquarters are in Santa Clara, Calif., Intel’s largest and most advanced operations are in Washington County.

Intel didn’t explain what’s driving the increase but the company is ramping up production in a multibillion-dollar research factory called D1X at its Ronler Acres campus near Hillsboro Stadium. It also has a massive new office building attached to the factory, RA4, where engineers will craft new generations of Intel microprocessors.

Intel laid off 1,155 workers in the United States last summer, plus an unknown number of workers overseas, and the company is repositioning its business for an era where microprocessor upgrades come more slowly and PC sales continue their long fade.

As Intel pared back in some areas, though, it evidently hired in others. And Intel expects to spend $9.5 billion this year on capital investments, much of that going toward its cutting-edge factories in Hillsboro.

Intel, like other large technology companies, uses specialized H-1B visas to hire workers from other countries. Last year, for example, Intel won certification for 640 H-1B workers in Oregon, according to Department of Labor records collected by the website myvisajobs.com. Typically, though, three times more employees win certification than actually receive visas and Intel’s H-1B activity appeared to decline last year.

Oregon’s tech economy is roaring, driven primarily by out-of-state companies’ fast-growing outposts. Intel leads the pack but is one of the few growing companies outside Portland.

Young tech companies focus on software and online services, and in the past several years they’ve rushed into downtown to capitalize on the concentration of engineers living in the city.