Posted on 03/26/2007 11:52:28 AM PDT by indthkr
BEIJING — Intel Corp. confirmed Monday (March 26) that it will build a $2.5 billion, 300-mm wafer fab in the northern Chinese city of Dalian. Fab 68 will begin construction later this year and is expected to go online in 2010, using 90-nanometer technology to "initially" make chip sets, the company said. Fab 68 will be Intel's first wafer plant in Asia, and is its first in 15 years at a new site. The project is a major coup for China, which is campaigning to move up the technology food chain and to clean up its poor track record on intellectual property protection.
"It is no secret that China is at the forefront of a remarkable surge in both market growth and innovation," said Intel chief executive Paul Otellini during a press gathering at the historic Great Hall of the People, China's seat of power. "Today's announcement sends a message that the Chinese market is very important to Intel."
China is Intel's second largest chip market after the U.S. and Asia's largest PC market.
Otellini had some other messages, too. For the U.S.: Get more competitive or else. It costs Intel $1 billion more to build a factory in the U.S., he said, naturally encouraging the chip giant to scour the globe for options. Of its last three advanced factories, two have been built in the U.S. and one in Israel. "The fourth one is [in China] today. So we are taking a fairly global view on these investments, and weighing the all core expertise we have at existing sites against the cost savings and incentives that governments can give us," he said.
Intel expects the fab to be its lowest cost site by the time it comes online. For the first time, the company won't use its "copy exact" mode of ramping a facility—basically using existing protocol to speedily get a facility up and running. That's a bedrock principle of Intel manufacturing.
Instead, Otellini said Intel will experiment with "new technology" to try to get the China fab to be its lowest cost advanced facility in the world. Some U.S. engineers will move here to oversee the facility, but it won't be on the scale seen at Hynix-ST Semiconductor in Wuxi, China. That facility is one of the fastest ST has ever brought online, but the quick ramp up was largely due to the fact that Hynix shipped in about 500 engineers from South Korea.
Otellini hinted that Intel would like to eventually make CPUs at the plant, and introduce some of the company's most advanced technology. For now, that's not in the cards because of U.S. technology export restrictions.
Until China shows a comprehensive commitment to IP protection, the chip maker will likely remain cautious about how much advanced technology it brings here. "Intel is still not ready to release any of its most leading-edge 'tricks' to China. And Intel's ex-pat employees do not have access to Intel's most advanced developments from the U.S.," said Joanne Itow, an analyst at Semico Research.
With the new fab, Intel's investment in China will total $3.8 billion, making it one of the country's largest foreign investors.
Because the company chose China for the fab, it's highly unlikely that it will open such a facility in India. The subcontinent has been lobbying Intel for a wafer facility and recently announced an incentive plan it believes will bring in $5 billion in investment during the next three years.
Another reason to go AMD!
I guess he could get *really* smart and build his factory on top of a seismic fault line as well?
Too smart by half - only suckers would buy stock in a company that makes such decisions. But then again, I guess there's one born every minute.
Only More technology for the Chinese to reverse engineer.Their very good at that.It saves time too.
Sell your Intel stock NOW... before China begins to share Intel's technology with the likes of Iran and Venezuela.
Flapdoodle! I have plenty of Intel stock and I am certainly not selling it. Especially with the 45nm stuff on the horizon.
Don't worry too much. They're only going to produce cheap 90nm parts for the local market while the rest of the world is already moving to 65 and even 45nm. Basically, this plant will be producing obsolete chips by our standards when it comes online, but that's good enough to sell to a billion poor Chinese.
This makes good business sense. Intel scoured the world and have settle on China. A win-win scenario for everyone. Profits for Intel, cost effect chips for China, I see no down side to this arrangement.
Wayne Heilman. The Gazette
January 16, 2007
Intel Corp. put its 1,000-employee Colorado Springs plant up for sale on Tuesday and said it will close the operation if no buyer is found.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based semiconductor giant is selling its 1.4 million-square-foot complex at 1575 Garden of the Gods Road because the company sold the communications chip business for which the plant supplied components, said Judy Cara, a local Intel spokeswoman.
Intel hasn’t set a deadline for selling the plant, which has attracted “some interest” from potential buyers in recent months, Cara said. The company reduced its earnings by an undisclosed amount in the fourth quarter for losses expected on the plant’s sale or closure.
Yes, I would agree. To generate significant wealth, they have to include intellectual protection and conduct themselves in the highest integrity.
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