AMD To Build Fab In New York

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Making its second major fab announcement in recent months, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Friday (June 23) said that it plans to build a 300-mm plant in upstate New York.

The 300-mm fab, to cost $3.5 billion, is expected to be located in the Luther Forest Technology Park in Saratoga County in upstate New York.

Details of the fab were sketchy. During a press event in New York, Hector Ruiz, chairman and CEO of AMD, dropped hints that the fab will make chips at the 32-nm node.

Construction of the fab is expected to begin in July 2007 and be completed by July 2009, according to the Associated Press. The plant would begin operation in 2010 at the earliest, according to Reuters.

Some 2,000 construction workers will have to be hired to build the new plant. The fab will employ 1,200 employees, according to reports.AMD's fab announcement has been expected. As previously reported, New York government officials proposed a $1 billion package of incentives to lure AMD to the state, according to the Times Union in Albany.

Officials from AMD were recently spotted in New York again to evaluate the state for a possible fab. The chip maker was reviewing a site outside Utica in upstate New York, but "Saratoga County officials said privately they expect a competing site at the Luther Forest Technology Campus will be AMD's choice for a $3 billion semiconductor fabrication plant," according to a report from the Times Union in Albany.

New York, according to some observers, had an uphill battle to lure AMD. So far, AMD has built its most advanced fabs in Germany. In May, the company said it would invest $2.5 billion in Dresden, adding a new 300-mm fab to replace an existing 200-mm facility that will be closed. AMD said the expansion will quadruple its processor production here within the next 30 months.

In fact, AMD (Sunnyvale, Calif.) and its arch rival, Intel Corp. (Santa Clara, Calif.), are racing each other to expand their respective capacities on the microprocessor front.

This week, Intel Corp. opened its next wafer fab in Leixlip, Ireland. It is the chip maker's third facility to use 65-nm process technology and reportedly the industry's first 65-nm production plant in Europe.Intel continues to ramp up 65-nm production, with 65-nm wafer starts now surpassing 90-nm wafer starts. The Ireland fab is designated Fab 24-2 and cost $2 billion to build. Intel's other 65-nm plants are Fab 12 in Arizona and D1D in Oregon.

The company also stated it is on track to begin production using 45-nm process technology by the end of 2007.