As reported by GlobeSt.com in February 2003, the project will not affect the eight-year-old facility's footprint at 4500 S. Dobson Road. It is the Santa Clara, CA-based company's first such conversion of an existing factory. "We hope to begin putting our first tools in the facility late this year and expect to begin production in late 2005," an Intel spokesman tells GlobeSt.com.
The massive project involves removing the plant's existing 200-mm semiconductor wafer production systems from the 200,000-sf clean room and replacing them with larger, 300-mm systems. Intel will install between 500 and 600 individual pieces of equipment, each costing from $3 million to $5 million.
The new equipment will enable the company to build larger wafers, on which more computer chips can be installed. That will lower the overall cost of computer chips without significantly affecting the cost of production.
"This project represents a first for Intel--the first complete conversion of an existing 200-mm wafer fab to a 300-mm fab," Bob Baker, Intel senior vice president and general manager of the technology and manufacturing group, said in a released statement."This conversion will not only enable us to improve our capital efficiency by giving us more than twice the capacity at significantly lower costs, but it will enable us to utilize our experienced and talented workforce in Arizona."
The facility's raised floor will be replaced with a newer version capable of handling the load of much heavier equipment. Production has effectively halted until the new equipment is installed and running, expected in late 2005. Until then, the plant's 900employees have been dispatched to Intel's other 300-mm wafer fabrication plants in Hillsboro, OR, Rio Rancho, NM, and Leixlip, Ireland. Some have been transferredto other departments within the company. Intel's Chandler campus also includes a manufacturing plant built in 2001 and a research and development center.
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