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Intel Hardware

Intel On A Building Spree 298

Posted by Hemos from the building-for-the-future dept.
Anonymous Cowherd writes "Intel will build two new facilities - a new chip plant and a new wafer plant. The new chip plant will be built in Kiryat Gat, Israel, continuing Intel's 30 years operation in the country. Intel already owns several facilities in Israel, both for R&D and for manufacturing. Previous developments of Intel Israel are the 8088 processor, MMX and the Centrino mobile platform. The new wafer plant will be built in an existing facility at Chandler, Arizona, and will feature 45nm technology - 1/1,333th the width of a human hair. The technology is two generations ahead of the current 90nm. Intel's Arizona operation includes production of the Pentium processor family and related chipsets."
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Intel On A Building Spree More

Intel On A Building Spree

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  • Frugality (Score:2, Funny)

    by bigwavejas ( 678602 ) *
    Why don't they just takeover IBM's facilities?

    • Re:Frugality (Score:4, Interesting)

      by TERdON ( 862570 ) on Wednesday July 27, 2005 @05:19PM (#13180183) Homepage
      1. IBM is going to churn out console processors from their own fabs?

      2. It isn't very easy to "upgrade" a semiconductor fab to latest tech, building a new one might actually be easier as you can make the buildings fit the purpose perfectly...

  • 1/1,333th (Score:5, Funny)

    by Dayze!Confused ( 717774 ) <slashdot DOT org AT ohyonghao DOT com> on Wednesday July 27, 2005 @05:17PM (#13180168) Homepage Journal
    Thirth? I believe this should be 1/1,333rd.

  • Ah, Science Journalism! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Lord Marlborough ( 897605 ) on Wednesday July 27, 2005 @05:19PM (#13180186)
    Don't you just love it when a number as incomprehensible as 45nm is finally put in a graspable framework such as 1/1,333 the width of a human hair? It's like the insight given by the statement that a mole of marshmellows would cover the US 512 miles deep.

  • Uh huh (Score:5, Funny)

    by hobotron ( 891379 ) on Wednesday July 27, 2005 @05:21PM (#13180207)

    "The technology is two generations ahead of the current 90nm."

     And it will take 2 generations to build.

  • Oh, bloody great use of numbers (Score:5, Informative)

    by gardyloo ( 512791 ) on Wednesday July 27, 2005 @05:21PM (#13180210)
    The new wafer plant will be built in an existing facility at Chandler, Arizona, and will feature 45nm technology - 1/1,333th the width of a human hair.

          Yay for science writers using numbers in dumb ways. So glad that all humans have all the same hair thicknesses, and they're all about 59.99 microns. According to various sources (and I've measured hair diameters myself), they range from 200microns down to about 50 microns. So the article should have stated that the 45 nm technology is somewhere between 9/10000th and 9/40000th the width of a human hair. Wouldn't that be much more impressive? /sarcasm
    • Actually, the variance in at least the summmary is far greater than that. In several countries, 1,333 is understood as 1.333 and NOT 1333. Which makes for a huge variance (although only two actual values). (And BTW, why wasn't that 1.337???).
    • If they did that, they'd have to update their figures more often. This way, they can say that 45nm is 1/1333rd the size of a human hair, while 90nm is 1/1333rd the size of a different human hair.

  • Globization... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by __aaclcg7560 ( 824291 )
    So much for the Made In The USA sticker.

  • What about their plant in Colorado? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by dptalia ( 804960 ) on Wednesday July 27, 2005 @05:22PM (#13180214) Journal
    They built a huge plan in Colorado right before the Tech Crash. The the crash came they abandoned the plant (the most expensive building ever in the state). Is this building unusable? It was supposed to be a "nest generation" chip plant after all!

  • Austin (Score:5, Interesting)

    by boristdog ( 133725 ) on Wednesday July 27, 2005 @05:23PM (#13180224)
    Maybe they'll actually finish these buildings, unlike the big development center they started in Austin and then left unfinished. A big, half-constructed building sitting in the middle of downtown for the last 5 years.

    And the city council gave them millions in tax breaks to leave an eyesore downtown...

  • Human Hairs (Score:2, Interesting)

    by TonyMillion ( 545370 )
    What I'd like to know is whos hair they use as this baseline, or is all human hair the same thickness?

  • Chips, wafers (Score:5, Funny)

    by gunpowda ( 825571 ) on Wednesday July 27, 2005 @05:28PM (#13180269)
    Where's the waffle factory? We need to know!
    • This reminds me of a story on how Micron got started.
      J.R. Simplot (Idaho potatoes magnate) who was one of the initial investors in Micron thought that he is investing in building a plant that makes potato chips.
      • I don't think the story is true (or if so can you post a link?) More of a running joke. Though a potato chip magnate did invest heavily in Micron. [matr.net]

        Just so noone gets confused.

      • Re:Chips, wafers (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Dun Malg ( 230075 )
        This reminds me of a story on how Micron got started. J.R. Simplot (Idaho potatoes magnate) who was one of the initial investors in Micron thought that he is investing in building a plant that makes potato chips.

        Yeah, that's such a hilarious joke. Every exasperatingly possible permutation of it was used for years by would-be humorists in the trade rags. Further proof that business journal writers should stick to business and stay away from comedy.

        In reality, JR Simplot invested in Micron at the urging o

    • We all know that Massachusetts produces the most waffles.

  • Water (Score:4, Informative)

    by said_captain_said_wo ( 889009 ) on Wednesday July 27, 2005 @05:30PM (#13180296)
    What is the estimate of how much water these plants will consume? Do the communities in which these plants are being put understand what the impact will be? Chip fabs usually consume lots of water.

    Links from google:
    1 [future-fab.com] 2 [tidepool.org] 3 [bsr.org]

    • Re:Water (Score:5, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27, 2005 @06:13PM (#13180685)
      Actually we dump the water back into the community. The loss is trivial.

      And, due to regulations, the water is cleaner when we dump it than when we input it into the factory. Now, the question is "why not just recycle the water?" If the fabrication process wasn't black magic this would make sense. But, we really don't understand what affects yeild. So, once yeild is high you are not allowed to change anything. When it is low, change whatever you want.

      Intel after all is not an engineering company. It is a manufacturing company.

      • Re:Water (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Your post just indicated chip fabs:

        1) don't know what's in the water when they get it, that effects chip yields.

        2) hence, don't know specifically what's changed about the water and it's chemical effects when they sell it back to the commuity, and how those changes effect thier yeilds.

        3) You seem to assume they know enough about public health to assume it won't have an effect... hence the rationalization that the water must be good enough for public consumption but not good enough for chip fabrication....

        See
    • The key is to remember not to give away water for free. Then no matter how much a plant like this uses, you can always go buy more from another source.

  • Intel's Clover and Blackberry Facility (Score:4, Interesting)

    by StefanJ ( 88986 ) on Wednesday July 27, 2005 @05:36PM (#13180350) Homepage Journal
    I live down the street from a giant Intel plant in Hillsboro, Oregon. When the weather is cool and I feel like I need the extra exercise, I walk the dog around the perimeter. It is a touch under four miles round trip and has its own wetlands area where beaver, ospreys, and coyotes live.

    Immediately across the street is some more Intel land. It has Intel no trespassing signs, but is . . . well, not vacant. It is a clover field. Sometimes you can see tractors plowing it up or harvesting the stuff. I guess Intel leases the land to a farmer.

    Around two of the sides are great big walls of blackberry bushes. These are considered weeds out there, but produce great whopping crops of blackberries. I picked about three gallons last year, enough to make three pies and twelve jars of jam. Technically, one of the white SUV security vans could bust me for picking the berries, but it seems a shame just to leave them for the birds.

  • New Intel business plan (Score:4, Funny)

    by Locke2005 ( 849178 ) on Wednesday July 27, 2005 @05:37PM (#13180355)
    1) Build billion dollar fabs in places most likely to be bombed (e.g. Israel, Dublin, London)
    2) Wait for attack
    3) Collect billion dollar insurance settlements
    4) Profit!
    • 2.5) Meanwhile, produce most of the world's general purpose processors and sell them to manufacturers by the boatload.
      4.5) (See 2.5) Profit a lot more!

      I don't think it's a scheme to collect insurance, considering how much more money they'd make if the plants don't get blown up.

  • Intel Israel (Score:5, Interesting)

    by joe_bruin ( 266648 ) on Wednesday July 27, 2005 @05:38PM (#13180358) Homepage Journal
    If you look at the Intel code names on their road maps, you'll see that they usually name their chips after rivers. Most of these rivers are in the western United States, but occasionally you'll see Israeli river names (Banias, for example). Grouping these names together, you can tell that Intel Israel usually works on low-power chips and integrated chipset features (SSE, Centrino, ...). That is, the heart of Intel cores is done in the U.S. They send their first generation designs to Israel for improvement and integration.

    Intel, as well as numerous other chip makers, have had a long tradition of development in Israel. IBM, DEC (back when they existed), Freescale all have research centers in Israel. This is due to the large amount of English-speaking skilled engineers and their relatively low cost compared to US engineers. This is the first I've heard of actually making the chips there. Germany is usually the preferred site for fabbing in the European region.

    • Re:Intel Israel (Score:2, Informative)

      by great om ( 18682 )
      motorola does a significant amount of fabing in israel. Particularly CPU's and small electronics for other corporations. Don't know why... must be all the sand

    • "Grouping these names together, you can tell that Intel Israel usually works on low-power chips and integrated chipset features (SSE, Centrino, ...). That is, the heart of Intel cores is done in the U.S. They send their first generation designs to Israel for improvement and integration. Intel, as well as numerous other chip makers, have had a long tradition of development in Israel. IBM, DEC (back when they existed), Freescale all have research centers in Israel."

      That's actually pretty funny. Intel Israel
    • And then there's the possibility that a significant proportion of the Israeli labour force have a genetic mutation that makes them think faster [futurepundit.com], a sort of neurological overclocking. Or so some scientists at the University of Utah have claimed.

  • Perhaps not... (Score:5, Informative)

    by crt ( 44106 ) on Wednesday July 27, 2005 @05:39PM (#13180367)
    Actually it's not clear if they are building anything new in Israel, as the Updated article [reuters.com] mentions.

  • AMD Ads (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Bryansix ( 761547 )
    I like how there are AMD ads on the page about Intel.

    Also, I think the investment in Israel is a great idea. They are a strong ally and more investment will only help the cooperation.
    • I like how there are AMD ads on the page about Intel.

      So what? I've seen numerous Microsoft ads on Slashdot. Money is money, wherever it comes from, to whom wants/needs it badly enough...
    • "Also, I think the investment in Israel is a great idea. They are a strong ally and more investment will only help the cooperation."

      Israel is not a strong ally of the United States. Britain is a strong ally of the United States. At the risk of sounding like a troll, Israel is an ally of the *wag the dog* variety. If you need further proof, compare the long historical cooperative relationship between the CIA and MI6 in the 20th Century (to today) with Israel's constant spying and theft of American nuclear

  • i8087 from Israel (Score:3, Interesting)

    by mzs ( 595629 ) on Wednesday July 27, 2005 @05:50PM (#13180471)
    The i8088 was developed in the US, the i8087 (the fp math coprocessor) was developed in Israel.
    • It was the 8086 that was designed in Israel. The 8086 was a cheaper version of the 8088. For instance, it used an 8-bit data bus rather than a 16-bit bus (but internally it was the same). It was chosen for the IBM PC, due to these cost advantages.

  • the same thing (Score:2, Informative)

    by phsdv ( 596873 )
    Intel will build two new facilities - a new chip plant and a new wafer plant

    This anouncement makes it sound that the two fabs are making different things, chips and wafers. However all chips or made on wafers so in this context a wafer fab is also a chip fab and visa versa.

    Why do people write about things without knowing what they talk about? Or at least try to find out, before writing something down.

  • They're temporarily adding 300 employees in Albuquerque for testing... Place called "Fab 7 Test".

    Like our Third World State needs 300 temp jobs to get folks' hopes up. :(

    Mark
  • Looks like they have quite a massive plant in Arizona. See Google map [google.com].

    Plenty of housing nearby for the workers too. It's almost like a whole town for them.

  • I'm not a military strategist, hell I couldn't even get up before 8.am(for a bugle call), but "wafer" and "chip" fabs will be, to the next big conflict, what ball-bearing factories were in WWII.

  • Are they building two fabs? Or are they building a single fab in the overlap between Arizona and Israel? Will the Arizona fab produce chips, or just wafers of silicon?

    The /. post says two plants, wafers in Arizona, chips in Israel. One Reuters article says that Israel says Intel will build a plant there, making goodness knows what. The other article says that Intel will make chips in Arizona, and are "no comment"ing on the Israel plant.
  • "The technology is two generations ahead of the current 90nm."

    If it's the technology that comes after this one, doesn't that make it by definition next-generation technology? Is there some scientific basis for this, or is this just more marketing? As if "next-generation" is just not hyped-up enough...
  • A few months back Washington County (the county where most all of Intel's Oregon facilities are located) announced a deal whereby Intel was given huge tax breaks by the county. In return Intel pledged to spend something like $20 Billion in Oregon over the next 10 years or so. That spending was supposed to create something like 3000 to 5000 more jobs here so the county went along with it thinking they would make up the revenue in property taxes from all those new residents (a questionable assumption anyway

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