By Parker Leavitt | The Arizona Republic
A mural-size photo of a classic Pontiac Firebird is among many images from the past that adorn the walls of the new General Motors “innovation center” in Chandler, but the coders and engineers who fill its cubicles are more-intently focused on the automaker’s future.
The Detroit-based company on Friday formally announced the opening of its fourth national IT center, which will employ 1,000 workers in the southeast Valley as the U.S. economy continues a shift toward knowledge-based jobs in science and engineering.
GM has hired 500 workers for the facility near Frye Road and Ellis Street in the heart of Chandler’s Price Road Employment Corridor, also home to Intel Corp., Microchip Technology Inc. and Orbital Sciences Corp.
GM plans to add 500 more employees over the next three years, many of who will be drawn from nearby Arizona State University and other colleges across the region. About one-quarter of the workers at GM’s Arizona Innovation Center were hired as recent college graduates.
