Intel
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Jim O'Hara, general manager, Intel Ireland
Jim O’Hara is vice-president, Technology Manufacturing Group, Intel Corporation and Intel Ireland general manager.
He took over the role of Intel Ireland general manager in April 2002 and is responsible for Intel’s manufacturing operations in Ireland and for the site’s strategic direction, management leadership and development, and government and community relations.
O’Hara joined Intel in 1991 as part of the Fab 10 start-up team. He became plant manager for Fab 10 in 1996 and subsequently managed both Fab 10 and Fab 14, now known as Ireland Fab Operations.
Prior to joining Intel, O’Hara worked in Digital Equipment Corporation for 17 years, the last five of which were based in their corporate headquarters in Massachusetts.
A past president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland, he is a board member of the Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School at UCD and Business in the Community Ireland. He is also a council member of IRCSET (Irish Research Council for Science Engineering and Technology).
In 2009, O’Hara was appointed to the board of Enterprise Ireland by An Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Coughlan TD. He holds an honorary degree of Doctor of Science from the National University of Ireland.
About Intel
Global computer chip manufacturer Intel has been in operation in Ireland since 1990, and is one of the country’s largest employers. Some 5,000 people work directly for the company’s Irish operations, split between its two locations in Leixlip, Co Kildare and Shannon, Co Clare.
Following investment totalling €6bn over the past two decades, the company’s Leixlip, Co Kildare site has been transformed into Intel’s centre of manufacturing excellence in Europe.
The Leixlip operation houses the company’s semi-conductor wafer fabrication facilities, which produce the latest generation of silicon microprocessors to power platforms and technology advancements.
The Leixlip campus is also home to other Intel businesses, including the Intel Innovation Centre (IIC), which has global responsibility for researching and developing innovative, leading-edge IT solutions and technology.
In addition to its Leixlip operation, there are some 200 people employed at Intel Communications Europe, located in Shannon, Co Clare, which is the Irish product-development arm of the company’s Communications Product Group. In February 2009, Intel announced a €50m investment in the Intel Embedded Lab Europe located at the facility.
Intel in Ireland has also taken on an active role in improving the quality of science and mathematics education. Last year, Intel Ireland contributed more than €1m to local and national education programmes such as the Science in Schools programme, which aims to encourage more secondary-school students to take up physical sciences and engineering subjects at Leaving Cert level.
