Intel to build $3b processor plant in Arizona
Intel Corp., the world's largest chip maker and soon to be Apple supplier, will build a new $3 billion processor manufacturing facility at its site in Arizona to introduce the most-advanced technology into its factories, the company said on Monday.
Construction on the new $3 billion facility, designated Fab 32, will begin immediately. It will be the first Intel facility to produce microprocessors using a 45 nanometer process when it begins churning out the chips in the second half of 2007.
Fab 32 will become Intel's sixth 300-mm wafer facility, producing wafers of about 12 inches in diameter, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company said in a statement. It will be about 1 million square feet with 184,000 square feet of clean room space. Over the next several years, the project will create up to 1000 new Intel jobs in addition to employing 3,000 skilled trades staff to work on constructing the facility.
"This investment positions our manufacturing network for future growth to support our platform initiatives and will give us additional supply flexibility across a range of products," said Intel chief executive Paul Otellini. "For Intel, manufacturing is a key competitive advantage that serves as the underpinning for our business and allows us to provide customers with leading-edge products in high volume."
Intel currently operates four other 300-mm fabs that provide the equivalent manufacturing capacity of about eight 200-mm factories. Those factories are located in Oregon, Ireland and New Mexico. The company also has an additional 300 mm fab currently under construction in Arizona (Fab 12) scheduled to begin operations later this year, and one expansion in Ireland (Fab 24-2) scheduled to begin operations in the first quarter of next year.
Officials in Israel and India have also recently indicated that the company plans to build factories or other facilities in their countries, but Intel has refused to confirm the news, according to the Associated Press.
By manufacturing with 300-mm wafers Intel hopes to dramatically increases its ability to produce semiconductors at a lower cost compared with more widely used 200-mm wafers, which are about 4 inches smaller in diameter. The total silicon surface area of a 300-mm wafer is 225 percent, or more than twice that of a 200-mm wafer, increasing the number of individual microprocessors per wafer by 240 percent.
Larger wafers lower the production cost per chip while diminishing overall use of resources, the company said, allowing it to use 40 percent less energy and water per chip than a 200-mm wafer factory.
The Fab 32 facility is part of Intel's plan to increase capital spending by 55 percent this year to $5.9 billion, up from $3.8 billion in 2004. The company, which has just begun to introduce 65-nanometer technology into production, is striving to maintain its lead in the $219.9 billion semiconductor industry by introducing the latest production technology ahead of its rivals.
Separately, Intel said today that it will invest $105 million to convert an existing inactive wafer fab in New Mexico to a component temporary test facility. The project will provide additional test capacity to the company's factory network for the next two years and will result in an additional 300 jobs at the New Mexico site during that period.
Construction on the new $3 billion facility, designated Fab 32, will begin immediately. It will be the first Intel facility to produce microprocessors using a 45 nanometer process when it begins churning out the chips in the second half of 2007.
Fab 32 will become Intel's sixth 300-mm wafer facility, producing wafers of about 12 inches in diameter, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company said in a statement. It will be about 1 million square feet with 184,000 square feet of clean room space. Over the next several years, the project will create up to 1000 new Intel jobs in addition to employing 3,000 skilled trades staff to work on constructing the facility.
"This investment positions our manufacturing network for future growth to support our platform initiatives and will give us additional supply flexibility across a range of products," said Intel chief executive Paul Otellini. "For Intel, manufacturing is a key competitive advantage that serves as the underpinning for our business and allows us to provide customers with leading-edge products in high volume."
Intel currently operates four other 300-mm fabs that provide the equivalent manufacturing capacity of about eight 200-mm factories. Those factories are located in Oregon, Ireland and New Mexico. The company also has an additional 300 mm fab currently under construction in Arizona (Fab 12) scheduled to begin operations later this year, and one expansion in Ireland (Fab 24-2) scheduled to begin operations in the first quarter of next year.
Officials in Israel and India have also recently indicated that the company plans to build factories or other facilities in their countries, but Intel has refused to confirm the news, according to the Associated Press.
By manufacturing with 300-mm wafers Intel hopes to dramatically increases its ability to produce semiconductors at a lower cost compared with more widely used 200-mm wafers, which are about 4 inches smaller in diameter. The total silicon surface area of a 300-mm wafer is 225 percent, or more than twice that of a 200-mm wafer, increasing the number of individual microprocessors per wafer by 240 percent.
Larger wafers lower the production cost per chip while diminishing overall use of resources, the company said, allowing it to use 40 percent less energy and water per chip than a 200-mm wafer factory.
The Fab 32 facility is part of Intel's plan to increase capital spending by 55 percent this year to $5.9 billion, up from $3.8 billion in 2004. The company, which has just begun to introduce 65-nanometer technology into production, is striving to maintain its lead in the $219.9 billion semiconductor industry by introducing the latest production technology ahead of its rivals.
Separately, Intel said today that it will invest $105 million to convert an existing inactive wafer fab in New Mexico to a component temporary test facility. The project will provide additional test capacity to the company's factory network for the next two years and will result in an additional 300 jobs at the New Mexico site during that period.
Comments
Originally posted by Jared
This is rather nice to know, that Intel is about supporting the American economy rather than driving it to Mexico. I imagine the factories they have in other countries is to support their European markets, etc.
interesting commentary from washington post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...072102183.html
.....He asks Dell to describe geographically how his laptop was made. Here's the abbreviated answer: Engineers in Texas and Taiwan designed it; the microprocessor came from one of Intel's factories in the Philippines, Costa Rica, Malaysia or China; memory came from Korean, German, Taiwanese or Japanese firms with factories in their countries; other components (keyboard, hard-disk drive, batteries, etc.) came from U.S., Japanese, Taiwanese, Irish, Israeli and British firms with factories mainly in Asia; and the laptop was assembled in Taiwan.
from Macworld:
".....Intel?s roots may lie in California?s Silicon Valley, but all of Intel?s recent manufacturing investments have been built outside the state. Intel currently operates two 300mm fabs in Oregon, and one each in New Mexico and Leixlip, Ireland. A fifth plant is nearing completion in Chandler and Intel is adding capacity to its existing 300mm fab in Ireland. While its advanced manufacturing facilities are located in the U.S., Ireland and Israel, Intel operates several test and assembly plants around the world in places such as Malaysia, Costa Rica and China."
a guy that was my next door neighbour for a few years when i was a kid is now working at Intel Malaysia. go figure. this globalisation thing freaks me out sometimes. also because i have brownish skin but pretty much consider myself white trash
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Originally posted by sunilraman
interesting commentary from washington post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...072102183.html
.....He asks Dell to describe geographically how his laptop was made. Here's the abbreviated answer: Engineers in Texas and Taiwan designed it; the microprocessor came from one of Intel's factories in the Philippines, Costa Rica, Malaysia or China; memory came from Korean, German, Taiwanese or Japanese firms with factories in their countries; other components (keyboard, hard-disk drive, batteries, etc.) came from U.S., Japanese, Taiwanese, Irish, Israeli and British firms with factories mainly in Asia; and the laptop was assembled in Taiwan.
from Macworld:
".....Intel?s roots may lie in California?s Silicon Valley, but all of Intel?s recent manufacturing investments have been built outside the state. Intel currently operates two 300mm fabs in Oregon, and one each in New Mexico and Leixlip, Ireland. A fifth plant is nearing completion in Chandler and Intel is adding capacity to its existing 300mm fab in Ireland. While its advanced manufacturing facilities are located in the U.S., Ireland and Israel, Intel operates several test and assembly plants around the world in places such as Malaysia, Costa Rica and China."
a guy that was my next door neighbour for a few years when i was a kid is now working at Intel Malaysia. go figure. this globalisation thing freaks me out sometimes. also because i have brownish skin but pretty much consider myself white trash
.............................................
It is pretty freaky. I remember when Apple would stamp where they came from. Do they still do that? As in "I was made in Ireland" or something
Originally posted by Jared
It is pretty freaky. I remember when Apple would stamp where they came from. Do they still do that? As in "I was made in Ireland" or something
All Apple stuff is nowadays predominantly labelled as
"Designed by Apple in California"
And that's what they'll be hanging on to for several more years my friend, Calihforniah.... Dude.... like, awesome 8)
edit: seeing that your from Northern Cali, i'm speaking generally about California the "Brand", which typically means Southern California, Sunshine, Beaches, Dudes and Dudettes, 90210, LA, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, the O.C., Arnie the Governator, an example of where an actor can frequently run a state or possibly an entire country *shudder*
i think only the more geek-inclined realise that most of the smart people in California are in the bay area (Apple, Oracle, LucasFilm, Lucasarts, Matrix effects crew, etc... etc.)
Originally posted by Jared
This is rather nice to know, that Intel is about supporting the American economy rather than driving it to Mexico. I imagine the factories they have in other countries is to support their European markets, etc.
i think IMHO for 45nm process for the next 3-5 years the investment and expertise required is only available in USA or possibly Japan.
going into nanoscale manufacturing the US is ahead now but is 'under threat' according to this report:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050629/nyw093.html?.v=14
for 100nm and bigger easier to make stuff, all your (manufacturing) bases are (mostly) belong to Asia.
Originally posted by sunilraman
All Apple stuff is nowadays predominantly labelled as
"Designed by Apple in California"
And that's what they'll be hanging on to for several more years my friend, Calihforniah.... Dude.... like, awesome 8)
edit: seeing that your from Northern Cali, i'm speaking generally about California the "Brand", which typically means Southern California, Sunshine, Beaches, Dudes and Dudettes, 90210, LA, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, the O.C., Arnie the Governator, an example of where an actor can frequently run a state or possibly an entire country *shudder*
i think only the more geek-inclined realise that most of the smart people in California are in the bay area (Apple, Oracle, LucasFilm, Lucasarts, Matrix effects crew, etc... etc.)
You are very right about Southern California.
You missed the most important studio of Northern California! And that would be Pixar!
Originally posted by Jared
You are very right about Southern California.
You missed the most important studio of Northern California! And that would be Pixar!
heh
It will be about 1 million square feet with 184,000 square feet of clean room space.
So what is the other 816,000 sq. ft.? Dirty, dirty rooms!? Are they going to be producing Internet porn there?
Originally posted by macFanDave
So what is the other 816,000 sq. ft.? Dirty, dirty rooms!? Are they going to be producing Internet porn there?
ROTFLMAO
Originally posted by macFanDave
So what is the other 816,000 sq. ft.? Dirty, dirty rooms!? Are they going to be producing Internet porn there?
its where they make the pc chips!!!