© Walden Kirsch / Intel Corporation
Electronics Production |
First chipmaking tool rolls into Intel Oregon fab expansion
As Intel increases its manufacturing footprint, a construction milestone passes at Intel’s Ronler Acres factory in Hillsboro, Oregon, the first machine has rolled in.
Inside Intel Oregon’s Ronler Acres Mod3 factory expansion, the first chipmaking tool has rolled into place. When it’s completed in about six months, the USD 3 billion factory will house about 1,500 tools. The Oregon factory expansion is part of Intel’s work to increase chip manufacturing capacity globally.
The honor of being first went to a thin film deposition tool. It arrived aboard two semitractor-trailers. Once completed and hooked up, it will weigh 10 tons. And by the time the Mod3 project is done in about six months, the thin film deposition tool will be joined by more than a dozen like it. A typical Intel fab, once built out, is stuffed with about 1,200 chipmaking tools, many of them costing millions of dollars apiece, the chipmaker states in an update.
To satisfy the global demand for computer chips, Intel is building or expanding factories in Arizona, New Mexico, Ireland, Israel and Costa Rica. And CEO Pat Gelsinger has told the industry to stay tuned for news of more Intel fabs around the world.
