Intel

Intel is recruiting professional and technical staff for its new research and development center in Costa Rica, which the company officially announced Tuesday in San José.

Microprocessor manufacturer Intel announced Monday the opening of its Client Computing Group in Costa Rica, a new business unit dedicated to developing tablets and PCs.

Exports of goods from Costa Rica during the first nine months of 2015 rose 2.3 percent compared with the same period of 2014 -- if adjusted for the infamous "Intel effect."

Intel's exit from Costa Rica last year continues to be the main factor causing negative growth of export products. Exports of services, however, grew for the fourth consecutive year.

Medical devices now lead national exports and showed a considerable 49.5 percent growth in the first two months of 2015 compared to the same time period last year.

A 54 percent growth in exports of medical devices places these products at the top of goods exported by Costa Rica this year.

Costa Rica could find itself once again as a center of high-tech manufacturing, including cars and renewable energy equipment, after President Luis Guillermo Solís and Chinese President Xi Jinping signed a strategic partnership agreement that included future discussion of "special economic zones" in Costa Rica for Chinese enterprises, according to a statement from Casa Presidencial.

Owners of the Europa Hotel & Casino and Hotel Radisson’s Casino, located in San José, announced they would close the businesses and lay off 250 staff members due to high operating costs, the group's attorney, Hugo Navas, said.

Technology giant Intel this week confirmed that a new product testing and research mega-lab will begin operating in Costa Rica in mid-2015.

The Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE) on Tuesday announced South Korean company SAE-A Spinning will open a cotton yarn manufacturing plant in the province of Cartago with an investment of $50 million.