FDI of the Month

March 2017: Intel

By Business & Finance
27 March 2017
Eamonn Sinnott Intel
Eamonn Sinnott, vice president and general manager, Intel 

March was an eventful one at Intel Ireland, as an amalgamation of several announcements combined to take it a month to remember for the tech giant.

Intel has invested in the self-driving car sector by agreeing to a $15.3bn purchase of Mobileye, a leading supplier of software that enables advanced driver assist systems (ADAS).

Mobileye was launched in 1999 with the belief that vision-safety technology will make roads safer, while reduce traffic congestion at the same time. With a team of more than 450 engineers, Mobileye has developed a range of software products that is deployed on a proprietary family of computer chips named EyeQ.

The partnership will undoubtedly help Intel to increase its autonomous vehicle solutions offering.

Intel also recently appointed three new Irish vice presidents: Noel Murphy, general manager, PEG IOT and Wearable Group, who becomes a vice president of the Platform Engineering Group; Paul Scully, Human Resources director, Europe, Middle East and Africa Region, who becomes vice president of Human Resources; and John Healy, general manager, Datacenter Network Solutions Group, who becomes vice president of the Data Center Group.

This brings to 11 the number of Irish people who now hold vice president positions in the company.

SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMME

To mark International Women’s Day in March, Intel Ireland launched its 2017 Women in Technology scholarship programme.

The scholarship programme aims to encourage a new generation of high-achieving women to take up the challenge of a career in science and technology. The programme forms part of a wider focus by Intel on empowering girls and women by fostering educational opportunities and encouraging females to participate, prosper, and lead in the global economy.

Intel also hosted the Women’s Achievement Awards during March. A presentation took place at a special ceremony held in the Glenroyal Hotel in Maynooth, where employees from across Intel in Ireland came together for an evening of celebration in which nine awards were presented to the 2017 recipients.

The Women’s Achievement awards were designed to acknowledge women working at Intel for a variety of outstanding achievements that have delivered a significant impact to Intel’s business.

The awards are sponsored by the Women at Intel network, whose mission is to empower women to deliver significant business impact with expanded connections, valued skill development, increased representation, and directed support.

ENGINEERING FOCUS

Additionally, 5,000 primary and secondary school students across Ireland took part in Intel-hosted activities as part of Engineers Week 2017 in early March.

Engineers Week, a week-long programme of nationwide events with the aim of celebrating the world of engineering in Ireland, took place from March 4th to 10th with events happening across the country in the aim of creating a positive awareness and sparking enthusiasm about the engineering profession to people of various ages with little or no engineering background.

In addition to the school outreach programme, Intel ran an online social media campaign throughout Engineers Week, which included a number of posts profiling engineers from across our company as part of an #IGrewUpToBeAnEngineer campaign which showcased individuals in their roles today while holding pictures if their younger selves.

Head of Irish operations

Eamonn Sinnott has been a major player in Intel’s Irish operation since 1991, becoming a plant manager in 2006. He has held a variety of factory management positions in Ireland, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Portland, Oregon. As well as being general manager of Intel Ireland, Sinnott is also an Intel Vice President within the corporation’s technology manufacturing group.

Prior to joining Intel, Sinnott worked as an engineer at Digital Equipment Corporation and as a manufacturing manager at Nuvotem.

Sinnott is a board member of the Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN), Trinity College Dublin, Ireland and director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland.