Heartland moving past its Rust Belt image
Wall Street Journal column highlights Intel investment, region’s revival
Intel’s announcement that it’s building a state-of-the-art semiconductor plant near Columbus is the latest sign that America’s industrial heartland is moving beyond its Rust Belt image.
Intel will invest $20 billion in the complex, which will manufacture computer chips that power devices including phones, cars, computers and home appliances. The investment eventually could expand to $100 billion.
In a column published by The Wall Street Journal, David J. Adams, executive director of the Cincinnati Innovation District and chief innovation officer at the University of Cincinnati, and Richard Florida, a professor at the University of Toronto and an adviser to the Cincinnati Innovation District, wrote the investment shows a shift away from the country’s predominantly bicoastal tech economy.
“The Intel investment is one of many signs that, after years of unsung effort, the revival of America’s industrial heartland is finally under way,” they wrote.
Adams and Florida cited a number of reasons for the region’s turnaround.
The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent global supply-chain crisis has prompted businesses to reestablish manufacturing in the United States. The heartland is well-positioned to attract manufacturing with its large industrial sites, access to transportation and available workforce, among other factors.
“Programs like the Cincinnati Talent Acceleration Program, a partnership between the University of Cincinnati and Microsoft with funding from the Ohio Department of Higher Education, are helping existing workers to develop skills for tech-driven manufacturing jobs,” Florida and Adams wrote.
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