Intel: New chip factories in US will cost 60 to 120 billion dollars
Intel has released some new details about its upcoming US chip manufacturing facility. CEO Pat Gelsinger says they envision ‘a small’ city with multiple factories, which together should cost 60 to 120 billion dollars.
Intel plans to produce chips for third parties with its IDM 2.0 strategy and therefore wants to invest heavily in its production capacity. Among other things, the company wants to expand its production activities in the US, and provide more details about a new hub with US chip factories on US territory before the end of this year. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger gives some new details about this this week, in an interview with The Washington Post.
Gelsinger says, among other things, that the production location must contain six to eight ‘fab modules’, which must produce chips on Intel’s future ‘leading-edge’ processes and also be able to take care of the packaging of chips, with techniques such as EMIB and Foveros. According to Gelsinger, each module will cost 10 to 15 billion dollars. The new US chip production site is estimated to cost a minimum of $60 billion and a maximum of $120 billion.
The company has not yet announced a location for its new production hub, but indicates that it is looking ‘wide’ across the US. “We are currently in talks with a number of states in the US who are making proposals to us for locations in the areas of energy, water, environment, near universities, skill capacity. I expect to make an announcement before the end of this year. can do about that location,” said Gelsinger.
“It’s a project over the next ten years on the order of $100 billion in capital, 10,000 direct jobs. 100,000 jobs will be created as a result of those 10,000, through our experience,” said the Intel CEO. “So, essentially, we want to build a small town.” It is not yet clear on which nodes Intel’s upcoming US chip factories will produce chips.
The company is also coming up with new fabs in Arizona, with construction to begin this year. Those new factories could be operational from 2024. According to Intel’s current roadmap, the company should produce chips on its Intel 4 and Intel 3 nodes by then. Production of its 20A node is also expected to start in 2024. That naming is based on 20 ngström, which would correspond to 2nm.
In addition to expansions in the US, Intel also wants to set up a new chip factory on European territory. Intel says it supports Europe’s ambitions to double its global market share in chip manufacturing by 2030. The company wants a subsidy of 8 billion euros for such a new production location in the EU. That is to make it more attractive to locate the factory in Europe, and not in Asia, where such a fab would be 30 to 40 percent cheaper.
Intel’s Current Roadmap for Chip Manufacturing Nodes