Intel's investment plans good news for clean tech

Enlarge Image

Intel and a team of venture capital funds are looking to do their part to stimulate the economy, announcing a plan to invest a total of $3.5 billion in startups over the next two years. Part of the pact's focus will be on investing in clean technologies.

Intel president and CEO Paul Otellini announced the initiative in a speech at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., where he talked up the need for a "culture of investment in the United States." Intel is apparently putting its money where its mouth is by pledging $200 million to a new investment fund it will operate focused on "key innovation and growth segments such as clean technology, information technology and biotechnology."

The team of VCs signed on to join Intel in this effort include a who's-who of the top players including Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and New Enterprise Associates. In addition, 17 technology companies committed to increase their hiring of college graduates.

Just how much of the $3.5 billion will be invested in clean technology, Otellini didn’t specify. But Earth2Tech reports that Intel Capital has invested about $125 million in more than a dozen green startups to date, out of an estimated $6.2 billion it has invested in more than a thousand companies over the past two decades.

How much of this is hype and how much is real momentum? Greentech Media takes a tempered view of the news, saying "VCs and Intel Capital are already investing somewhat heavily into start-ups. Thus, this represents probably an incremental, but not revolutionary, boost."