Intel opens $2-billion manufacturing facility in New Mexico

Intel Corporation recently announced the opening of a 2-billion dollar
expansion to its manufacturing facility in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. Designated
Fab 11X, the new expansion uses the semiconductor industry’s most advanced
manufacturing technologies, producing microprocessors on 300-mm wafers using
Intel’s leading-edge 0.13-micron process technology.

The facility will make a transition to 90-nanometer process technology in
2003. Fab 11X is more than 1 million square feet in size with 2,00,000 square
feet of clean room space.

Investing in new products and manufacturing even in difficult economic times

Paul Otellini

"This expansion is the embodiment of our long-held belief that
especially in the face of challenging economic times we must continue to invest
in new products and manufacturing," says Paul Otellini, President and COO,
Intel. "As computing and communications devices converge, the need for
increasingly complex components with more capabilities will grow. This facility
will help us meet that growing demand. The combination of the 300-mm wafers and
90-nanometer process technology will also reduce the costs of manufacturing,
increase productivity and improve the availability of the world’s most
advanced semiconductor products."

Manufacturing with 300-mm wafers (about 12 inches in diameter) increases the
production of computer chips at lower costs compared with the current standard
200-mm (eight inches) 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 ratio of the
printed die (individual computer chips) is increased to 240 percent.

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