Intel opening new $3B chip factory
In the latest display of its manufacturing might, Intel Corp. is opening a new $3 billion (euro2.1 billion) factory in the U.S., widening its lead over rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. in the industry's switch to a new chip-making technique.
By Agencies |
SAN FRANCISCO: In the latest display of its manufacturing might, Intel Corp. is opening a new $3 billion (euro2.1 billion) factory in the U.S., widening its lead over rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. in the industry's switch to a new chip-making technique.
The new facility in Arizona will be Intel's first plant dedicated to churning out microprocessors - the brains of personal computers and servers with an average size of 45 nanometers, or 45 billionths of a meter.
The transistors on such chips are so small that more than 30 million can fit onto the head of a pin.
How small they are is critical to the fight between Intel and AMD because smaller features open more room for transistors on a single slice of silicon, boosting performance while lowering manufacturing costs.
The new processors also are made with materials that reduce the amount of electric current escaping from transistors, a major problem as chip parts shrink to the atomic scale.
Intel is at least six months ahead of AMD in the transition to the new chip-making method.
Intel and AMD currently make their most advanced chips on 65-nanometer technology, and both companies are spending heavily to outfit their factories with the cutting-edge equipment and technologies needed to make 45-nanometer chips.
Intel's new factory, with more than 1,000 workers, is so big more than 17 football fields could fit inside it.
Its products will go on sale Nov. 12.
AMD is aiming to roll out chips based on its own new technique _ developed in a partnership with IBM Corp. _ in mid-2008 but has not provided more specifics.
Intel is drawing on its deeper financial resources to fund its more rapid changeover.
The company, whose $150 million (euro105.4 million) market value is 21 times bigger than AMD's, plans to spend up to $8 billion (euro5.6 billion) on upgrading or building factories for 45-nanometer chips. That figure includes the new factory, up to $3.5 billion (euro2.4 billion) for a new factory in Kiryat Gat, Israel and $1.5 billion (euro1 billion) to retool an existing facility New Mexico, both of which are scheduled to open next year.
AMD is retooling one of its factories in Dresden, Germany, to handle the new technology. The company has not given a cost for its transition.
The battle over manufacturing technology amplifies the competition between the world's No. 1 and No. 2 makers of microprocessors.
``Customers buy much more than nanometers,'' said AMD spokesman Gary Silcott. ``We may be behind certain companies by a few months in terms of introducing 45-nanometer, but we're way ahead in a number of critical design features. We think we're in a very
The new facility in Arizona will be Intel's first plant dedicated to churning out microprocessors - the brains of personal computers and servers with an average size of 45 nanometers, or 45 billionths of a meter.
The transistors on such chips are so small that more than 30 million can fit onto the head of a pin.
How small they are is critical to the fight between Intel and AMD because smaller features open more room for transistors on a single slice of silicon, boosting performance while lowering manufacturing costs.
The new processors also are made with materials that reduce the amount of electric current escaping from transistors, a major problem as chip parts shrink to the atomic scale.
Intel is at least six months ahead of AMD in the transition to the new chip-making method.
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Intel and AMD currently make their most advanced chips on 65-nanometer technology, and both companies are spending heavily to outfit their factories with the cutting-edge equipment and technologies needed to make 45-nanometer chips.
Intel's new factory, with more than 1,000 workers, is so big more than 17 football fields could fit inside it.
Its products will go on sale Nov. 12.
AMD is aiming to roll out chips based on its own new technique _ developed in a partnership with IBM Corp. _ in mid-2008 but has not provided more specifics.
ADVERTISEMENT
Intel is drawing on its deeper financial resources to fund its more rapid changeover.
The company, whose $150 million (euro105.4 million) market value is 21 times bigger than AMD's, plans to spend up to $8 billion (euro5.6 billion) on upgrading or building factories for 45-nanometer chips. That figure includes the new factory, up to $3.5 billion (euro2.4 billion) for a new factory in Kiryat Gat, Israel and $1.5 billion (euro1 billion) to retool an existing facility New Mexico, both of which are scheduled to open next year.
ADVERTISEMENT
AMD is retooling one of its factories in Dresden, Germany, to handle the new technology. The company has not given a cost for its transition.
The battle over manufacturing technology amplifies the competition between the world's No. 1 and No. 2 makers of microprocessors.
``Customers buy much more than nanometers,'' said AMD spokesman Gary Silcott. ``We may be behind certain companies by a few months in terms of introducing 45-nanometer, but we're way ahead in a number of critical design features. We think we're in a very
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