Intel has revealed some additional details about its upcoming brand-new fab complex in the U.S. Patrick Gelsinger, chief executive of Intel, said that the new fab campus will cost between $60 billion and $120 billion, will include multiple modules capable of processing wafers using Intel’s advanced process technologies, and chip packaging facilities. In addition, the company aims to build it adjacent to a university to simplify the hiring of new personnel.
As part of its IDM 2.0 strategy, Intel is set to decide on the exact location of its next major semiconductor manufacturing hub in the U.S by the end of this year. The fab will include between six and eight modules that will produce chips using the company’s leading-edge fabrication processes, will be able to package chips using Intel’s proprietary techniques like EMIB and Foveros, and will also run a dedicated power plant, Pat Gelsinger said in an interview with the Washington Post.
Each semiconductor fabrication module will cost between $10 billion and $15 billion, so Intel’s investments into the hub over the next decade could be as ‘low’ as $60 billion and could top $120 billion.
“We are looking broadly across the U.S.,” Gelsinger told the Washington Post. “This would be a very large site, so six to eight fab modules, and at each of those fab modules, between 10- and $15 billion. It's a project over the next decade on the order of $100 billion of capital, 10,000 direct jobs. 100,000 jobs are created as a result of those 10,000, by our experience. So, essentially, we want to build a little city.”
At this point, Intel does not disclose which nodes the first module of the fab will support. Yet, since it will start operations sometime in 2024 at the earliest, the new facility will probably produce chips using the Intel 4 and the Intel 3 manufacturing technologies. Eventually, the fab complex will adopt more advanced fabrication technologies. The production capacity of the upcoming fab is unknown, so is its location. Intel needs to build its next manufacturing in a location with well-developed infrastructure, adequate supply of water and energy. Also, the company plans to build it near big cities with universities in a bid to higher qualified personnel.
“We're engaging with a number of states across the United States today who are giving us proposals for site locations, energy, water, environmentals, near universities, skill capacity, and I expect to make an announcement about that location before the end of this year,” Gelsinger said.
Earlier this year, Intel outlined plans to spend $20 billion on advancing its manufacturing operations in Arizona. In addition, the company will announce a location for its brand new fab hub, such as those the company has in Arizona and Oregon.
