Santa Clara,California,United States

While technology manufacturers are cutting back on investments, computer chipmaker Intel is doing the opposite. The company said it will invest $7 billion over the next two years on three factory upgrades in the United States.

Intel said the investment is its largest on new manufacturing and represents 7,000 high-wage jobs. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company plans to upgrade existing facilities in Arizona, New Mexico and Oregon to manufacture its 32-nanometer products.

Centers that house computer servers and store data aren't friends of the Earth.

Between 2000 and 2006, data center energy consumption more than doubled in the U.S., according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Consumption exceeded that of all the country's color televisions.

Sun Microsystems has spent the past 41/2 years rethinking the industry.

On Monday, Sun unveiled its latest effort -- a data center in Broomfield [Colorado] projected to save the company more than $1 million in electricity costs and 11,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year.

Intel on Wednesday became the latest technology giant to shed jobs in the face of an economic downturn that has already seen millions of people lose their jobs. The company said it plans to restructure its older manufacturing operations without impacting the deployment of new, leading-edge 45-nanometer and 32-nanometer technology.

Up to 6,000 Jobs at Stake

Despite having watched its profit virtually vanish in the fourth quarter, Intel, the world's largest chip maker, remains committed to spending billions of dollars on new manufacturing sites and attacking rivals in new markets.

A former Intel Corp. engineer has been charged with stealing trade secrets worth $1 billion from the chip maker while he worked for its main rival, Advanced Micro Devices Inc.