The last couple years I’ve been writing this blog I’ve written about my discussions with companies based in Central China and their difficulties hiring staff from the East Coast that want to come to far off and (to an Easterner) uncool places like Chongqing, Wuhan and Chengdu.

In a back-handed sort of way Intel has done what many companies wished in the past they could do but either found it politically incorrect or economically unpalatable or both: fire anyone who doesn’t want to move out there.

ChinaTech News.com and other media channels have reported Intel will be closing its Shanghai plant, which employs about 2,000 staff. If staff would like to keep their job, they have to move out to Chengdu, where Intel has another plant. Intel will be increasing capacity out of the Chengdu plant over the next year, eventually rendering the Shanghai plant redundant.

Intel just may be setting an unsettling precedent for other companies – foreign and domestic – that are looking to reduce their operating costs while retaining experienced talent.

As ChinaTech News says, “…good news for investors, but bad news for employees in Shanghai.”