Since Intel announced the closing of its manufacturing plant in Costa Rica there has been speculation as to the whys and there is the feeling that neither the company, nor the government, is telling the whole story.
A video in the possession of CRHoy.com, the CEO of the microchip giant, Brian Krzanich, personally explains the decision in a presentation to employees at the Belén plant.
In the video (at minute 1:35), Brian Krzanich said the decision in Costa Rica was not part of plans to reduce the overall return of the company, but “had more to do with the cost of this operation, the long-term operational cost of the plant. We spent several years working with the Government of Costa Rica, trying to reduce the overall cost of the operation”.
Thus, in the words of the executive, local production costs weighed more than global competitiveness.
In an attempt to contact Costa Rican officials, to know about the Government talks with the company, the online publication says it was stonewalled, receiving an email response from the Foreign Trade Minister, Anabel González, that she is out of the country and deferred contact to the director of the Coalición de Iniciativas para el Desarrollo (CINDE), Gabriela Llobet.
Attempts to contact Llobet failed. So did attempted contact with CINDE head, José Rossi. CRHoy.com says it could only get a response from the CINDE press office.
In an interview with El Financierio, Gonzalez and Rossi said they never negotiated with Intel and that company insisted even with another level of costs and infrastructure, it would have not made a difference. But according to the words of Kraznich, it did.
The company line, according to Intel General Manager, Mike Forrest, is that the plant closure is to global competitiveness and consolidation of manufacturing and that since certain suppliers and customers are located in Asia, from the point of view of logistics it is more practical to have operations in Asia.
CRHoy.com says it tried to get the reaction of Presidenta Laura Chinchilla over ‘s comments, but would not comment on the issue, claiming that the Government spoke to whom it needed to talk to. Watch the video.
Source: CRHoy.com
Great stuff – you know we people feel the same but most don’t have the latitude to pull up stakes and move to Viet Nam…How do Ticos do it? It cost so much to live here. I mean this place has gone from Pura Vida to Pura Greeda in a relatively short time.
So Intel wants to more to Viet Nam… but now maybe not so fast.
AP by Chris Bremmett 5/19/2014
“Two Chinese passenger ships arrived at a Vietnamese port Monday to
evacuate thousands of Chinese workers following deadly rioting last week, officials
said, a dramatic maneuver from Beijing that intensifies pressure on
Hanoi as the two countries jostle over disputed territory in the South
China Sea.
Vung Ang, Viet Nam… was overrun
by an large anti-China mob last week. Two Chinese workers were killed and 140
injured in the attack, which also left parts of the facility on fire.
More than 400 other factories around the country were damaged or destroyed
in mob violence, most in industrial parks close to southern Ho Chi Minh
City. Many factories were not Chinese-run but Taiwanese or from
elsewhere in Asia, apparently targeted mistakenly or by gangs intent on
looting.”