Obama plans West Coast trip to focus on technology

President Obama will head for the West Coast on Thursday to meet with technology leaders and tour an Intel Corporation semiconductor manufacturing facility.

The trip comes as the president is seeking to defend his 2012 budget proposal, which allocates funding to establish a nationwide broadband overhaul and to increase and better train the country's science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) teachers.

Obama will depart Washington on Thursday afternoon, and he'll meet with technology business leaders that night in San Francisco. "The meeting is a part of our ongoing dialogue with the business community on how we can work together to win the future, strengthen our economy, support entrepreneurship, and get the American people back to work," said a White House official. The meeting will focus on increasing American innovation, one of the president's priorities, and his budget proposals to increase research and development, education, and clean energy.

On Friday, Obama will visit the world's most advanced semiconductor manufacturing facility at an Intel Corporation plant in Hillsboro, Ore. The company has committed to investing more than $6 billion for technology advancements in its manufacturing facilities in Arizona and Oregon, and has invested in STEM programs to prepare students for tech jobs, the White House said.