Intel kondigde afgelopen woensdag de opening aan van een nieuwe fabriek voor processors in Chandler, Arizona, meldt IDG.net. Fab 22 is geheel gericht op de fabricage van 0,13micron versies van de Pentium III en Pentium 4. De fabriek, die al deze maand begonnen is met produceren van 200mm wafers, is de grootste van de inmiddels vier 0,13micron Fab's die Intel on line heeft. De andere drie staan in Oregon, Californië en Massachussets. Fab 22 was gebouwd in 18 maanden, een recordtijd voor Intel, volgens Intel's Brian Harrison. De Fab heeft een cleanroom van ruim 44.000 vierkante meter:
While the economy is still suffering from a downturn, Intel feels that investing in future technology, such as this US$2 billion plant, gives it an advantage over the competition. "We continue to invest in good times and bad times," Harrison said. "We're building today for volumes that are expected in a year or two."
The circuits created using the 0.13-micron manufacturing process are so small that it would take around 1,000 circuits to equal the width of a human hair, Intel said. The 0.13-micron chips are designed to take less power and generate less heat than the larger 0.18-micron processors still used by Intel and other chip makers. Using the 0.13 manufacturing process allows approximately twice as many chips to be built from the same size wafer as the 0.18-micron process, Harrison said.
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