SANTA CLARA, CA. — Intel Corp.’s new wafer fab currently under construction in Leixlip, Ireland has been delayed by a year and will now be dedicated to the production of 300 mm wafer processing, company officials announced this week.
“The addition of a second 300 mm production fab to our factory roadmap will significantly improve out asset utilization and improve our production capacity for future generations of products,” said Mike Splinter, executive vice president and general manager of the Intel’s Technology Manufacturing Group. “These new 300 mm fabs will feature advanced factory automation systems to significantly improve productivity and yields.”
When the project was announced in June, Intel said the facility would focus on 200 mm wafer processing and would begin production in the second half of 2001. Production at Fab 24, as the project is called, is now slated to begin in the second half of 2002.
Fab 24 will include 135,000 square feet of cleanroom manufacturing space.
The facility will also be Intel’s second dedicated to 300 mm technology and its first high-volume 300 mm facility in Europe. Intel currently has a dedicated 300 mm development fab in the final stages of construction in Hillsboro, Ore., and a production fab currently under construction in Rio Rancho, N.M.
— Jeff VanPelt