A relative newcomer, but statistics put New Mexico 10th in chipmaking*
10/01/2001
 Balloon Fiesta (www.marblestreetstudio.com) |
You are correct if you don't think of New Mexico for its manufacturing industries. In the greater Albuquerque area, the state's biggest concentration of population, the manufacturing sector accounts for only 9% of total nonagricultural employment. Today, however, Albuquerque's manufacturing — once heavily dependent on defense contractors — is New Mexico's most dynamic, and has a very significant semiconductor presence dominated by Intel (Table 1), the worldwide leader in IC production. Clearly, Intel's investment in its Rio Rancho wafer fabs (a few miles north of Albuquerque) has created a critical mass of activity that has attracted competitors, suppliers, and customers, and has built an acute public awareness of semiconductor manufacturing.
 Eagle Dancers on Corn Mountain (Ron Behrmann) |
ICs hot in New Mexico
Intel first came to Rio Rancho in 1980 and began operation with fewer than 25 employees. Today, employment is just under ~5700 in three wafer fabs that are among the most advanced facilities in the world: Intel's Fabs 7 and 9 produce leading-edge flash memory ICs, and Fab 11 produces flash memory and the full range of the company's Celeron and Pentium microprocessors (Table 2). Intel has also chosen New Mexico for a 300mm wafer fab — Fab 23 currently under construction — that is slated to begin production in the second half of 2002. Outside of 300mm capability in its development fabs in Oregon, Fab 23 in New Mexico will be Intel's first 300mm manufacturing facility in the US, and it will also be its first fully automated factory.
The only other dominant semiconductor manufacturing presence in New Mexico is Philips Semiconductors with two wafer fabs.
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According to Solid State Technology's most recent tabulation of New Mexico wafer fabs (Table 2), two semiconductor manufacturers have five wafer fabs in the state, ranging from 125mm to 200mm, and even emerging 300mm silicon wafers. Our estimates show that if all of New Mexico's wafer fabs ramp up to full capacity, the combined production would be the equivalent of 127,700 200mm wafers/month or 1.5 million/year. This is roughly 1.5% of the 101 million 200mm equivalent wafers that may be needed in 2002, as forecast by Semico Research, Scottsdale, AZ.
Hot high tech in NM
Employment statistics show that New Mexico has the 35th largest high-tech industry in the US with 25,159 high-tech related jobs; approximately 6500 of these jobs are specifically in semiconductor manufacturing (see Fig. 1), according to Cyberstates 2001.
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Among other statistics outlined in Cyberstates 2001 (Table 3), New Mexico has added 7500 jobs to its high-tech work force from 1994 to 2000 (a 43% increase); nationally, high-tech industry employment totaled 5.3 million in 2000. New Mexico ranks 36th in high-tech average wage with $46,364 in 1999, 84% more than the average private sector wage of $25,290 in the state. In total, New Mexico's high-tech payroll was $1.1 billion in 2000.
 Figure 1. Leading high-tech industry segments in New Mexico, measured by employment. (Source: Cyberstates 2001) |
One of New Mexico's most impressive statistics is that, nationally, it has the highest concentration of electronics exports; the state exports 86% of its manufactured high-tech products, $2.4 billion worth in 2000.
Conserving water in New Mexico
Even though cities like Albuquerque sit on large aquifers, in the arid Southwest, citizens see conservation of water resources as paramount. So, too, do good citizens Philips Semiconductor and Intel. In 1993, when Intel announced that it would expand its Rio Rancho Fab 11, the common wisdom was that Albuquerque's aquifer contained an abundant supply of water. More recent studies have confirmed that everyone in Albuquerque has a responsibility to conserve water.
At Philips, an internal water reuse system helps the company save water at a rate of 100 million gallons/year. This annual savings is at least 20% measured against a baseline established with the local authority in 1995. Philips' efforts in Albuquerque are closely aligned with the city's goal of achieving a 30%/person reduction in overall water use by 2004.
Besides an internal reuse system, other water-saving measures at Philips' wafer fabs include reusing quality wastewater from the internal deionization system to irrigate landscaped areas. The company also works closely with the city and surrounding industries to determine the best use of the plant's treated industrial wastewater.
Intel's wafer fab complex in Rio Rancho is large by any comparison worldwide. The company currently uses ~3% of the water in the greater Albuquerque area. However, 75-85% of the water Intel uses in manufacturing is eventually returned to the Rio Grande River (the remainder is lost to evaporation). First, the wastewater is pretreated, and then piped directly to Albuquerque's sewer system and treatment facility. None of Intel's wastewater is discharged on the ground or reinjected into the aquifer.
 Luminarias in Old Town Albuquerque (Ron Behrman) |
At Intel, engineers have incorporated water conservation into daily operations, and the company has spent more than $15 million to research and develop ways of reducing use or recycling water.
When the New Mexico state engineer granted Intel a permit to drill private water wells, Intel made a public commitment to reduce water use 39% by 1999. It exceeded that goal in 1996, and at the end of 2000, its conservation rate was 53%, meaning fabs were using 53% less fresh water than they would be using without conservation (see Fig. 2).
A high 75% of Intel's water use is for rinsing wafers with ultrapure deionized water. So, most of the water savings has come from increasing the efficiency of the water purification process. A few years ago, 50% of the water taken into the purification process was usable for manufacturing, while the other 50% was rejected to carry most of the minerals from the other half of the water. The recovery rate has steadily increased, so that Intel now makes use of 8 out of every 10 gallons that is taken in.
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The latest improvement at Intel is a high-recovery reverse osmosis process that went online in the latter half of 1999. This system allowed the Rio Rancho site to achieve a higher annual average conservation rate in 2000, compared with a 47% conservation rate in 1999. In addition, the plant's water conservation team has successfully developed and tested a process reclaim water-saving technology that will allow Intel to take water that has already been used for rinsing chips and use it in other industrial processes.
Albuquerque officials have been so impressed that in 2000 Intel received a "Gold Pretreatment" award from the city recognizing exceptional compliance with its wastewater permit. Intel also received this award in 1996, 1997, and 1999. It received the "Green Zia" achievement award from the New Mexico Environment Department in 1999 and 2000. — P.B.
Acknowledgments
Photos showing the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, Eagle Dancers on Corn Mountain, and Old Town luminarias are courtesy of the Albuquerque Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Reference
- Cyberstates 2001 is part of AeA's cyber report series that includes Cybernation 2.0, CyberEducation, and Cybercities. AeA members may purchase the Cyberstates 2001 report for $95, nonmembers for $190. Contact AeA at ph 800/284-4232.
*Ranking in US based on 1999 employment [1].