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TAP TIMES -8- JANUARY 2022
The BIG Boom! (from 6)
The 2020 sale to hynix may have been the
company’s first salvo in Intel’s new battle
to recapture its repuration as the semi-
conductor industry’s trailblazer. It was the
last major activity by the departing Robert
Swan administration.
Intel’s Rio Rancho, N.M. site employes more than 1,800. (Intel)
entering the foundry service sector (com-
peting with TSMC) and would fab semicon-
ductors for Apple, Qualcomm and other
fabless chip makers and users.
Battle of the big bucks
This was just the latest and the loudest
volley in the battle of the big bucks be-
Intel’s former Fab 68 in China now flys the flag of SK hynix, S.
Korean memory provider. (Intel) tween the giant global chip makers — i.e.,
Intel and Samsung.
Last March, Intel announced a $20 billion
investment for constructing two new fabs The first product, according to various
at its Ocatillo Campus in Chandler, Ari- reports, will be Qualcomm’s Snapdragon
zona. communications chip, the cornerstone of
the fabless communications chip supplier.
When these are completed, the company
will have a total of six fabs at Ocatello Oregon expansion
which employ a total of 15,000 — making Hillsboro, Oregon, which is the most west-
it the largest employer in Arizona. ern outpost for the company’s fabs (and
the first work site in Gelsinger’s own Intel
Expanding Rio Rancho job history) is also on an expansion roll.
Last May, Intel announced it planned to
spend $3.5 billion at its Rio Rancho, N.M. At the Hillsboro campus, now with three
site, where its Optane-branded semicon- active fabs, Intel is expanding its massive
ductors are made, to equip it for advanced $3 billion Mod3 factory. A typical Intel fab,
packaging using Foveros technology. the company trumpets, once kitted-out,
will boast about 1,200 tools for chip pro-
Intel says its proprietary Foveros technol- duction.
ogy enables it to build processors with
compute tiles stacked vertically, rather In August 2021, Gelsinger said the compa-
than side-by-side. This is a move from ny plans to spend from $60 to $120 billion
system-on-chip to system-on-package and on a mega-fab in the U.S. that will be a
will reportedly enable better performance. “little city.”
Intel Foundry Services This mega-fab is in addition to the new
Last year, Gelsinger announced that it was to page 10
