Intel opens 'leading-edge' fab
Plant to build most powerful chips
Max Jarman
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 21, 2007 12:00 AM
In 1965, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore predicted that the number of transistors that could be put on a silicon wafer would double approximately every two years, indefinitely, because of technological advances.
His postulation, which proved right, is now known as Moore's Law. It's the reason the capacity of an iPod has grown from 1,000 songs when it was introduced in 2001 to 40,000 today.
It's also the reason Intel Corp. has invested $3 billion in a new 1,000-employee semiconductor fabrication plant, or "fab," that opens Thursday in Chandler.
It's the fourth semiconductor factory that Intel has built in Chandler since arriving in 1980 and probably not the last.
The Chandler campus, where 10,000 people now work, is designed to accommodate two additional factories, and Intel has a tradition of building new plants next to existing ones.
With the capacity and power of semiconductors doubling every two years, Intel needs to continue to build new plants and upgrade older ones to stay on top.
That technology now allows more than 250 million transistors to be applied to a microprocessor the size of a postage stamp.
That compares with the 2,200-transistor chips cited by Moore in 1965.
Intel's new plant, known as Fab 32, represents the state of the art of semiconductor manufacturing. It will produce a new batch of chips that are faster, more robust and use less power than the previous generation.
"It's our most leading-edge and cost-effective facility so far," Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said.
Employees for the new plant have been trained in Ireland and Oregon, where Intel built a smaller version of the facility to test the technology.
'Competitive advantage'
Unlike traditional factories that can remain relevant for decades, semiconductor plants can become obsolete in a few years, often requiring billions of dollars in upgrades to bring them up to speed.
Many companies are giving up, closing plants and outsourcing production to merchant foundries springing up around the globe.
Earlier this year, STMicroelectronics announced that it would close its U.S. chip plants and use merchant foundries for production. The plants had 4,000 employees, including more than 1,000 at a factory in Phoenix.
Intel, the world's largest chipmaker, has the resources to continue to build its own plants and intends to continue to do so.
It also plans to continue to invest in U.S. facilities such as Fab 32, while other companies that choose to continue to produce their own products are moving production overseas, where labor is cheaper.
"We're comfortable building fabs," Mulloy said. "It gives you a competitive advantage."
By owning its own fabrication facilities, Mulloy said, Intel can stay ahead of its competition, keep costs down and better control the quality of its products.
"Our technology is a year ahead of our nearest competitor," he said.
Latest technology
Fab 32 is the only full-scale semiconductor-production facility in the world to employ the latest 30 millimeter/45 nanometer technology.
The plant can accommodate larger 300 millimeter silicon wafers that are etched with 45 nanometer-sized lines that contain millions of transistors.
The larger wafers allow more chips to be cut from a single piece of silicon and lead to increased production. The smaller lines allow more transistors to be applied to a chip, making it more powerful and versatile.
Intel's previous top-of-the-line plants, such as Fab 12, also in Chandler, process 300-millimeter wafers, but etch them with larger 65 nanometer lines. Fab 12 opened 1996 but underwent a $2 billion upgrade that was completed in 2005.
A third Chandler plant, Fab 22, opened in 2001 and etches 200-millimeter wafers with 130-nanometer lines.
Joanne Itow, an analyst with Semiconductor Partners in Phoenix, noted that a 300-millimeter plant is 2 1/2 times more efficient than one that processes the 200-millimeter wafers.
Fab 22's future
There had been some speculation that Intel may close, or upgrade, Fab 22 when Feb 32 opened. Intel's original Chandler plant, Fab 6, closed in 2000.
Mulloy said the company may update Fab 22 but said there are no announced plans to do so.
"We certainly don't plan to close it," he said.
Intel is currently spending $1.5 billion to update a plant near Albuquerque to the 300 millimeter/45 nanometer technology.
But it chose not to update an older second plant in Albuquerque.
The company closed Fab 11 there in August and eliminated 1,100 jobs.
The New Mexico plant had technology similar to Fab 22 but produced flash-memory chips, which Intel has been phasing out.
Mulloy acknowledged that Fab 22's 6-year-old technology is too old to produce the latest microprocessors that are Intel's core business. But it is adequate to turn out the chip sets that perform functions that are not on the microprocessor, such as accommodating graphics.
"We have lots of the products that could be produced at Fab 22," Mulloy said.