ADDING 100 JOBS
Intel is moving development of a storage, memory technology to its Rio Rancho plant
Intel Corp. in Rio Rancho is hiring again, following the company’s decision to transfer development of a new storage and memory technology to its New Mexico plant.
The new technology could greatly improve processing speeds for desktop computers and data center operations. Intel created the technology — known as 3D XPoint, or “cross point,” in partnership with another company, Micron Technology. But the partners announced this summer that they would part ways to continue developing 3D XPoint separately, allowing each company to pursue its own applications and markets.
On Monday, Intel announced that development work will now be moved to Rio Rancho, paving the way for the local plant to hire another 100 people.
“The transition of that work to Rio Rancho will add over 100 new positions to the site,” said Intel spokesperson Liz Shipley. “We’ll host some job fairs in the near future to recruit people.”
The announcement marks a reversal from recent years. Employment at the local plant fell from about 3,300 people in 2013 to about 1,100 now as corporate investment in next-generation chip technology and manufacturing operations went to Intel sites in other states and countries.
But the Rio Rancho facility’s research and development work has remained strong, leading to development of new products here that have helped stabilize the local workforce since last year. Local engineering teams, for example, created novel methods to fuse optics technology, using lasers, with traditional silicon-based electronics circuits. The company is not investing in manufacturing operations here. Rather, it’s pursuing technology development to create new products as part of the company’s efforts to diversify its markets beyond its traditional focus on semiconductor chips for computer processing.
The new 3D XPoint technology is based on a new type of engineering architecture that places data memory and storage much closer to the microprocessers inside computers or data centers, allowing information to transfer back and forth at much faster speeds than with current computing technology. That places a much greater amount of memory for immediate access right next to microprocessors, providing much more capacity.