Posted on Monday, January 17 2011 @ 17:43 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
EE Times
reports Intel will invest $500 million to reopen its Fab 14 wafer plant in Leixlip, Ireland. The investment will upgrade the facility for the production of future processors, and may play a part in Intel's preparation for the production of 450mm wafers.
The move will create 200 long term technical jobs after a two-year build is completed. More importantly the investment looks set to secure the jobs at the three wafer fabs currently active there.
Fab 14 closed in the summer of 2009 with the loss of 298 jobs and reducing the number of wafer fabs Intel operates in Ireland to three; numbered 10, 24 and 24-2 where it runs relatively trailing edge processes at 90-nm and 65-nm. In February 2010 Intel (Santa Clara, Calif.) completed decommissioning the fab shell and even took at the perforated flooring that supports laminar airflow.
