Intel Capital, the chipmaker's venture capital arm, announced $60 million in new startup investments Thursday. That brings its total investment for the year to $566 million, up from $455 million in all of 2016.

Thursday's investments include a Portland cybersecurity startup called Eclypsium, which disclosed $2.3 million in funding last month.

Intel says Eclypsium's technology is designed to help defend against attacks on hardware, computer firmware and supply chains. At an Intel event Thursday, Eclypsium chief executive as Yuriy Bulygin said his company is focused on a "blind spot" in cybersecurity, the firmware that comes with electronic equipment.

Firmware comes preloaded on computers, smartphones and other devices, permanent instructions to govern their operations. Sometimes, Bulygin said, that firmware is already infected with malicious code when it's first installed on the device. Other times, he said, hackers find their way inside to change the firmware for their own purposes.

Eclypsium's technology is designed to improve monitoring systems inside companies to detect intrusions.

"This is a problem that every company faces that handles high-value data," Bulygin said.

Before launching Eclypsium, Bulygin worked at Intel and its former security group, McAfee, from 2006 until last spring, and identifies himself as a former chief threat researcher for Intel Security and McAfee. Earlier, Bulygin spent three years at the Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab.

Like many large tech companies, Intel invests in startups to seed new technologies and markets that might eventually contribute to its core business - and hopefully produce a financial return, too.

Intel Capital has a substantial presence at the company's campuses in Washington County, but it invests around the world and only occasionally backs Oregon startups.

-- Mike Rogoway; twitter: @rogoway; 503-294-7699