Chipmaker Intel spent a bomb on trying to get US politicians to think its way. According to a disclosure given to the US House clerk's office the company has spent more than a million dollars in the last three months.

This is nearly double what Intel spent last year and might be something to do with the fact that high-speed Internet deployment has become a bigger issue for politicians and technology companies. The company has lobbied the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Commerce and the Federal Communications Commission on the issue.

Intel also lobbied Congress on immigration reform because it wants to make it easier to hire talented foreign workers in the US. Of course, such amounts make one wonder, but a million in three months is nothing to an outfit which earned $2.3 billion.