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Intel CEO Brian Krzanich on stage at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

(Intel image)

Intel chief executive Brian Krzanich declared Tuesday that his company will spend $300 million to overcome the tech industry's notorious lack of diversity in its professional ranks.

In his keynote address at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Krzanich said the company – and others – need to back up their calls to bring more women and minorities into their work forces.

"This is a highly relevant issue and one we all need to address. I'm here to say tonight it's time to step up and do more," Krzanich said.

There's a lot to do.

Intel, like most tech companies, is overwhelmingly white and male. Fifty-five percent of its employees are white and just 4 percent are African-American, Intel disclosed in a report last year; nearly three-quarters are men.

That isn't unusual – Google and many other tech companies began reporting diversity statistics last year and posted similar numbers. In Oregon, where Intel employs 17,500, 71 percent of software employees are men, according to state data.

But it isn't changing. Tech companies have long touted the importance of diversifying but have been slow to follow through.

On Tuesday, Krzanich said Intel wants "full representation (of women and minorities) at all levels in our company workforce by 2020." And he said Intel will tie executive pay to progress toward that goal.

Only two directors on Intel's 10-member board are women and just two of its top 15 executives are female. That list is headed by company president Renee James, who is based in the California company's Hillsboro offices.

Organizations working with Intel on its initiative include the International Game Developers Association, the National Center for Women in Technology, the Feminist Frequency and Jesse Jackson's Rainbow PUSH coalition.

Jackson has been a vocal proponent of more diversity in tech, attending corporate board meetings last fall to push the companies directly for change.

Intel was motivated to act in part by vocal attacks on women in the gaming community, Krzanich said, a campaign sometimes known as GamerGate – though he didn't use that contentious term. Intel bungled its response to the issue last fall, pulling advertising on a website that had been critical of the gaming culture. The company later apologized.

On Tuesday, Krzanich said Intel wants to "build a pipeline of female engineers and underrepresented computer scientists."

"This isn't just good business," he said. "This is the right thing to do."

-- Mike Rogoway

mrogoway@oregonian.com

503-294-7699; @rogoway