The rumors of Intel’s plans to build a new manufacturing plant in China have turned out to be true and the processor manufacturer have now officially announced that it is planned a 300mm wafer factory in Dalian, northeastern China. The new factory will cost $2.5 billion to complete and the name of the factory will be Fab 68. This is Intel’s first wafer factory in China and comes at a very good time as China is currently Intel’s fastest growing market.
“Not since 1992 with the construction of Fab 10 in Ireland has Intel built a fab from the ground up at a brand new site. Construction on Fab 68 is scheduled to begin later this year with production projected to begin in the first half of 2010. Initial production will be dedicated to chipsets to support Intel’s core microprocessor business.”
Fab 68 will, when it’s ready, be Intel’s eight 300mm factory and this is expected to happen in 2010. By using the larger 300mm wafers the factory is considerably more cost-efficient than the older 200mm plants. Using a 300mm wafer reduces the costs of water and energy with up 40 percent compared to a 200mm water, per circuit.
