The head of Texas-based Dell Inc., Kevin Rollins, also said
entertainment companies should work closely with technology firms to
build new businesses delivering music and movies to consumers.
Rollins, who took over from Michael Dell as chief executive last
summer, was careful to say the company opposes illegal trafficking of
digital files.
"I'm talking about the music industry, working with them on various
standards and encouraging them to innovate on how they deliver their
content to customers rather than try to put artificial barriers up,"
Rollins said in an interview with The Associated Press.
"There are many new ways to deliver content to users without having to
bar them from access to content or entertainment," Rollins said. "That
generally stifles growth, it doesn't assist it."
Rollins traveled to Washington this week for a board meeting at the
conservative American Enterprise Institute. His younger predecessor,
Michael Dell, who remains chairman of the global computer company,
generally eschewed visits to the nation's capital in recent years to
discuss technology policies.
Rollins' remarks came one day after Intel Corp. -- a close partner
of Dell -- urged the Supreme Court to stay out of a long-running
copyright dispute between the entertainment industry and companies
that make software used to share files over the Internet.
Through lawsuits and lobbying Congress, entertainment companies hurt
by rampant Internet piracy have sought tougher laws and other
restrictions against people who illegally send copyrighted files over
the Internet. They also have persuaded regulators to require
anti-copying technology to be built into some future devices, such as
digital televisions.
Rollins also disclosed Wednesday that Dell almost certainly will use
about $100 million of $4.1 billion it earned overseas to pay
for construction at its new $115 million manufacturing plant in
North Carolina.
North Carolina earlier approved a $242 million incentive package to
bring Dell to the state. Most of that package was in the form of tax
credits through 2019 for computers or other devices Dell produces or
assembles in North Carolina.
Congress last year approved a one-time tax break under which companies
that repatriate foreign earnings will have that profit taxed at 5.25
percent -- or roughly $250 million for Dell -- instead of the usual 35
percent on income earned in the United States.
"It's pretty clear there's a number of things we intend to do with
that and are in line with what we believe Congress is asking for --
our factory in North Carolina clearly is one," Rollins
said. "It's going to be a good investment for us and mean new jobs
here in the U.S."
Rollins said Dell also may use part of the $4.1 billion to train
its employees throughout the United States.
Rollins said Dell will increasingly target future domestic sales to
hospitals and doctors' offices, which he described as a potential
$1.5 trillion market. The health care industry is under pressure
to become more efficient to keep costs down, and Dell is under
continuing pressure to find new customers.
"That industry has spent (on technology) about half the level of
corporate markets in general," Rollins said. "We think we can
significantly improve and lower the cost of health care."
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