Intel’s new mega-fab
INTEL HAS ANNOUNCED that it’s opening a huge new chip fabrication plant in Ohio. Construction on the 1,000-acre site is due to start this year, and the first phase will see an investment of $20 billion into two fabs. It will then be expanded into a ‘mega’ site with up to eights fabs and a total investment of around $100 billion. Once complete, it will be one of the world’s biggest semiconductor manufacturing plants, and though it’s not yet clear which process nodes each fab will build, we expect Intel’s 20A and 18A process (yes, we have reached angstrom measurements). Intel’s CEO, Pat Gelsinger, said it will “help build a more resilient supply chain”. Fabs aren’t simple to build though and we won’t see any silicon from the site for three years.
The new plant is part of Intel’s Integrated Device Management 2.0 initiative, which aims to mix its own foundry capacity with selected outsourcing to regain leadership in the process technology. Intel struggled with 10nm chips and lost out to Samsung and TSMC as things shrunk further. Intel’s efforts suffered from high failure rates as it tried to get multi-layered patterning techniques to work, while its rivals pushed ahead with EUV (extreme ultraviolet) lithography and the switch in techniques delayed everything. Intel believes it is back on top form, although it still needs to go to TSMC for its 3nm chips, and will continue to outsource some other chips. Intel has not been shy about its ambition to be the world’s leading designer and manufacturer of silicon chips by 2025. That’s a tall order, but the new plant should help.