$3 Billion Investment for Future Generation Platform Products
SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 25, 2005 -- Intel Corporation today
announced plans to build a new 300-mm wafer fabrication facility at its
site in Chandler, Ariz. The new factory, designated Fab 32, will begin
production of leading-edge microprocessors in the second half of 2007
on 45 nanometer process technology. Construction on the $3 billion
project is set to begin immediately.
"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 Paul Otellini,
Intel CEO. "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. The
unmatched scope and scale of our investments in manufacturing help
Intel maintain industry leadership and drive innovation."
When completed, Fab 32 will become Intel's sixth 300-mm wafer
facility. The structure will be about 1 million square feet with
184,000 square feet of clean room space. The project will create up to
1000 new Intel jobs at the Arizona site over the next several years.
During the construction phase, more than 3,000 skilled trades people
will be hired to work on the project.
Intel currently operates four 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.
Manufacturing with 300-mm wafers (about 12 inches in diameter)
dramatically increases the ability to produce semiconductors at a lower
cost compared with more widely used 200-mm (eight-inch) wafers. The
total silicon surface area of a 300-mm wafer is 225 percent, or more
than twice that of a 200-mm wafer, and the number of printed die
(individual computer chips) is increased to 240 percent. The bigger
wafers lower the production cost per chip while diminishing overall use
of resources. Three-hundred-mm wafer manufacturing will use 40 percent
less energy and water per chip than a 200-mm wafer factory.
Separately, Intel said it will invest $105 million dollars 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.
News Source: Intel Press Release
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