Greg In The Desert

New Mexico Business Weekly has an article on Intel’s Fab 11X build out. This is the factory I work for.

When Intel Corp. finishes upgrading its chip-making factory in Rio Rancho next year, it will operate one of the world’s largest clean rooms.

The company started a $2.5 billion upgrade to its Fab 11X manufacturing complex early this year to produce Intel’s next generation, 32 nanometer chip technology. The new chips are smaller and faster and consume less energy than Intel’s current 45 nanometer chip technology.

When the upgrade is complete, Fab 11X will include 400,000-square-feet of clean room space, said Tim Hendry, vice president of the Intel Technology Manufacturing Group and the Fab 11X plant manager.

“It will be the largest clean room operated by Intel globally, and one of the largest in the world in general,” Hendry said. “The corridor that runs along the outside edge of the clean room is a quarter-mile long.”

Sometimes I have to walk the distance of that factory frequently. It’s a good way to get exercise. Read the whole article at New Mexico Business Weekly.

Intel Corp. said on Monday it will spend $1 billion to $1.5 billion to retool a factory in New Mexico, which will start to make chips with cutting-edge 45-nanometer-wide transistors in the second half of 2008.

The factory to be renovated in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, is known as Fab 11X and will be the fourth Intel plant to use 45-nanometer technology, which includes new materials that boost chip efficiency by cutting leakage of electrical current.

My employment is secure.

Here’s a little bit more information about the IRB that was used to fund this upgrade. Looks like there’s some money left in the pot.