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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