COLORADO SPRINGS, CO — With the possibility of faster chip technology on the horizon Intel plans to delay finishing part of its Colorado Springs plant, according to published reports.

An Intel spokesman told the Denver Post this week that it was uncertain when work on the former Rockwell plant would be completed. The delay apparently stems from the possible introduction of technology that could build a chip that is faster than flash memory chips.

“The question that we have to answer is do we want to put in the old and then retrofit for the new,” spokesman Chuck Mulloy told the Post.

The delay is the second Intel has announced over the past few months. Last fall, Intel officials pushed back the scheduled opening of its $1.2 billion Colorado Springs plant from November, 2000 to sometime early this year – probably March – because the company was unable to complete a 120,000 square foot cleanroom facility on schedule due to lack of skilled electric workers and pipefitters.

The building was built in 1996 by Rockwell International Corp. and acquired by Intel in February.

Some experts believe it could be years before the technology needed to produce the advanced chips exists, but Mulloy said the technology is already development.