Intel To Convert Arizona Factory To 300 MM Technology
$2 Billion Investment to Create Company's Fifth 300-mm Factory
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Feb. 18, 2003 -- Intel Corporation today disclosed plans to convert Fab 12, a 200-mm wafer fabrication facility located in Chandler, Ariz. to a 300-mm wafer fab. The conversion project, estimated to cost $2 billion, will begin in the first half of 2004 with production scheduled to begin in late 2005. The converted fab will start up production on 65-nanometer process technology.
"This investment is consistent with our belief that Moore's Law is alive and well," said Bob Baker, senior vice president, general manger, Intel Technology and Manufacturing Group. "Three-hundred mm production, combined with leading edge manufacturing, gives us the ability to deliver our customers greater computing power and functionality at lower costs.
"This technology greatly improves our capital efficiency by giving us more than twice the capacity at significantly lower costs. Additionally, by reusing an existing 200-mm factory we save additional capital and take advantage of the highly skilled workforce we already have in place."
When completed, the converted Fab 12 will become Intel's fifth 300-mm wafer facility. Five 300-mm fabs provide the equivalent manufacturing capacity of about 10 200-mm factories. Intel currently has two 300-mm fabs in operation; one in Hillsboro, Ore., the second in Rio Rancho, N.M. Two other 300-mm facilities are under construction. One in Oregon will begin operations later this year, and a facility currently under construction in Ireland is scheduled to begin operations in the first half of 2004.
Manufacturing with 300-mm wafers (about 12 inches in diameter) dramatically increases the ability to produce semiconductors at a lower cost compared with the current standard 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, the company disclosed plans to sell 524 acres of land in Fort Worth, Texas. The land was purchased in 1997 as part of a planned manufacturing facility. However, changes in manufacturing technology and current construction projects at existing Intel sites mean the property is no longer part of the company's future plans.
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