The world's largest chip maker Intel and 24 major venture capital firms announced the launch of a $3.5-billion ‘Invest in America' alliance to fund startup companies in the U.S. in the wake of stiff competition in areas of innovation and education from India and China.
Intel Chief Executive Paul S. Otellini made the announcement on Tuesday in a speech at the Brookings Institute, in which he argued that the United States should lead the global race for innovation.
“At one time...Our research centres were without peer. No country was more attractive for startup capital or global investors. We seemed a generation ahead of the rest of the world in information technology,” he said, adding that it was no longer the case.
“Unfortunately, long-term investments in education, research, digital technology and human capital have been steadily declining in the U.S.,” Mr. Otellini said. “So, too, has the commitment to policies that made us such an entrepreneurial powerhouse for more than a century,” he added. Other countries, including China, India, Taiwan, Finland, Korea and the Netherlands, had become “far more potent competitors in the next phase of the global economy,” he said.
“Over the next three years, for example, China, India and South Korea will invest three times the amount that we do in clean energy technologies,” he added.
