RIVERTON — Intel Corp.'s 330,000-square-foot building that has quickly risen from the Salt Lake Valley may be impressive, but company officials acknowledge it's just a hint of things to come.
The new four-story building now has its first occupants, bringing together about 350 employees from two other Intel facilities in Utah. It also will be the home of a consolidated business group that will have 330 employees by the end of next year.
"It's built on a 150-acre parcel that we bought to construct the campus on, and a full build-out of the campus would have five general-purpose buildings and two half-sized ones for a full occupancy of 8,000 people," said Jessie Reed, site services manager.
"But that's a 15- to 20-year plan horizon. We're trying to recruit different business groups to grow operations in Utah. It will be an research and development facility, with some administration but no manufacturing. But this is the first step of what we hope is a long process."
The building, at 3740 W. 13400 South, shot up in only 10 months, and that's with a half-million man-hours with no recordable worker injury. The building will be completed by February by Layton Construction of Salt Lake City.
Software engineering and development at two other Utah sites — two leased buildings in American Fork and an Intel-owned building on 4500 South in Salt Lake City — will go to Riverton.
The domestic operations of Intel's newly formed Enterprise Services Organization also will be at the Riverton facility, pulling together workers from five facilities in Arizona, Oregon, California and New Mexico, according to community affairs manager Michelle Estrada.
The organization handles payroll, staffing and recruitment of employees for the company's U.S. operations and will serve as an information center for any U.S. employees with questions. Intel, the world's largest manufacturer of microprocessor chips for computer, networking and communications products, has about 83,000 employees worldwide. Seventy percent are in the United States.
About 70 percent of the 330 jobs in the Enterprise Services Organization will be filled by year-end, and about 80 percent of the total will be Utahns. The hiring rate is faster than Intel had anticipated.
"We had had real worries about the (Utah) unemployment rate, wondering 'can we really hire here?' But people told us, 'Don't worry; they'll come,' " said corporate controller Richard Taylor.
"We have been delighted. We are way ahead in our hiring and we will go faster. And the quality of the people has been very impressive. They're bright, intelligent, very dedicated people, and they're very enthusiastic about what this means for Utah."
Taylor and Reed listed several reasons for locating the organization in Utah. A highly educated work force, high quality of life, a community spirit, accessible airline transportation are among them.
Taylor said the transplants from other Intel plants have been made to feel at home by the folks in Utah.
The organization's staff may grow in the future, Taylor said, although he cautioned that the Internet may be used more heavily in the future to handle some of its services.
"But as Intel continues to expand and across the Internet economy, the sheer volume of business and people we will get into means there is a potential to grow. This is a core we're putting in. There is a whole host of employee services we will consider," he said.
"We're growing aggressively and hiring aggressively. We're like a very hungry machine."
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