One Healthy Company's Response to the Recession: Invest $7 Billion in New Technology

Intel just announced a major investment in new facilities to produce the next-generation chip technology, and is encouraging others to follow suit.

This is exactly what the healthy companies need to do: invest in the long-term projects that will position them for leadership during the recovery. Intel's fabs are long lead time items - if Intel waits until the economy looks like it's going to improve, they will miss the window of opportunity.

In the meantime, there are a lot of good people available today who were not available two years ago, and may not be in a year. The "Innovation Economy" is going through a rare period when long-term growth plans are not hampered by the available talent.

Intel has this opportunity because they have limited exposure to the problems other companies have right now to raise capital: they have billions in cash reserves. Still, it takes a lot of courage to seize the moment when everyone else has hunkered down.

What are you doing to take advantage of the opportunities that this recession has created for you?