January 12, 2007 – Intel Corp. plans to invest in a new chipmaking facility in China for 65nm multicore processors, Intel’s first such manufacturing facility in Asia, according to Reuters.

The new facility could cost “a couple billion dollars,” noted the paper, quoting unidentified sources, which did not disclose the location or timing of the new investment.

Intel has invested about $1 billion in China to date, with over 6000 employees there working on assembly and test, R&D, and sales and marketing, and major sites in Shanghai and Chengdu.

In November Intel said it would more than triple the size and cost of another planned assembly/test facility, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, to an even $1 billion, making it the largest of the company’s seven worldwide assembly and test facilities across Malaysia, Philippines, China, and Costa Rica. Construction on what will be Vietnam’s first major semiconductor facility is now expected to begin in March 2007, with production slated for some time in 2009.