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Intel puts Dr. Ann Kelleher in charge of its delayed 7nm CPU project
Last week Intel announced its 7nm process is running behind schedule. This week it announced the departure of chief engineering officer Dr. Murthy Renduchintala amid a restructuring of its technology group.
Intel to spend $5 billion on new 14nm fab in Arizona, create 4,000 new jobs this year
When Paul Otellini isn't too busy talking about being jilted by Nokia, he spends his time hosting presidents and splashing billions of dollars on new manufacturing facilities. Intel's CEO is wrapping his tumultuous week on a high note, having welcomed Barack Obama to Chipzilla's Oregon facility and treated the president to the happy news that Intel will invest $5 billion back into the US economy by building its most advanced fab yet -- which will introduce an impossibly small 14nm production process -- in Arizona, to begin operation in 2013. Construction starts in the middle of this year and is expected to create "thousands" of jobs, both temporary and permanent. Aside from that, Otellini has disclosed Intel's intention to create 4,000 new jobs in the US, mostly in R&D and product development. Music to Obama's ears, we're sure.
Intel confirms Oregon plant will be ready to make 450 mm wafers
Intel's already boasted of its massive investment in a new 22 nanometer manufacturing process, and it's now confirmed that it's new plant in Hillsboro, Oregon, dubbed D1X will be ready to produce 450 millimeter wafers. Of course, "ready" seems to be the keyword here -- Intel will apparently stick with 300 mm wafers for a while yet, but have all the necessary preparations put in place to kick start 450 mm production when the industry is ready for it. That shift promises to both increase efficiency and cut costs by allowing more chips to be produced at a time, but it will likely still be years before we see any actual results -- one analyst speculates it could be 2018 at the earliest before 450 mm fabrication tools are ready.
Intel announces plans to spend up to $8 billion on U.S. factory upgrades
Apple and Google may be sitting on their piles of cash, but Intel sure is dipping into its reserves in a big way these days -- the company has just announced that it's following up its nearly $8 billion acquisition of McAfee with a multi-billion dollar investment in upgrades to its factories in Arizona and Oregon. That investment will total between $6 billion and $8 billion, and include the development of an entirely new fabrication plant in Oregon, in addition to upgrades at the two existing facilities that will allow Intel to move forward with its 22-nanometer manufacturing process. As you can no doubt guess, the investment will also be quite a boon to both areas -- Intel says that the upgrades, which will take place over "several years," will create as many as 8,000 construction jobs and between 800 and 1,000 permanent jobs at the facilities. Head on past the break for the full press release.
Globalfoundries takes ARM Cortex-A9 into 28nm land, looks forward to 20nm chips in 2013
Forget the numbers, here's what matters: Globalfoundries' new production capabilities will lead to "smooth production ramp-ups and faster time-to-market" for its customers. Now consider that this promise relates to scrumptious 28nm Cortex-A9 SOCs and feel free to rejoice. The chip fabricator has just declared itself ready to take orders for ARM's systems-on-chip built using its high-k metal gate 28nm fab process. This fulfills its pledge for mass production in the latter half of 2010, but lest you think Globalfoundries is resting on any nanoscale laurels, it also has a 20nm roadmap to tell you about. It's very simple, really: expect even smaller, even more power-efficient silicon in 2013. We don't know if the future will be bright, but it sure looks like it's gonna be small.
Intel swings 25nm factory doors open for a tour de fab
Intel and Micron's recent announcement that their collective superhero body, appropriately named IM Flash, is sampling 25nm flash chips has been accompanied with a whirlwind tour of their Utah production facilities for a few lucky journalists. PC Perspective bring us the atmospheric photo above, along with some videos, as they prance about one of the most hallowed (and cleanest) environments known to gadget lovers. Apart from the die shrink, the lads also discuss Intel's reputed plans for a G3 SSD refresh some time "later this year" with snappier controllers onboard, which apparently was echoed by Micron who also intend to pump out faster processors with their SSD products. While you wait for all that to happen, hit the source link to find out how and where the stuff that gets put inside SSDs is made.
AMD getting out of fabrication?
What do you do when you're always playing catch-up to Intel, watching your workstation market share slip, and piling up something like $2 billion in debt? Well if you're AMD, you seriously consider dropping your fabrication business. According to reports, the company is currently investigating its options for outsourcing more (or all) of its manufacturing to third-party firms in deals similar to the ones it has with Chartered Semiconductor and Taiwan Semiconductor. There are drawbacks, of course, including the possibility of longer development times due to the separation of design and manufacturing (the last thing AMD wants, considering recent Barcelona delay rumors). Regardless of what its final decision will be, it's clear that the news has already hurt the struggling chipmaker in the short-term by causing several market analysts to downgrade the company's stock.[Via Techmeme]
Fab@Home shows you how to build a fabber on your own
Fabbers, or 3D printers, or prototyping machines, are traditionally used in product manufacturing to get an idea of how a product sketch will look and feel in real life. Just like many technological products, a homebrew open-source community has started up around fabbers -- a new one has just begun at Cornell University, appropriately called Fab@Home. The project, which is already several weeks old, has resulted in some pretty awesome projects, including a fabbing chocolate machine done by a high school student in Kentucky that makes some pretty tasty looking treats. As you'd expect, the group has put together a set of instructions and accompanying software (Windows only, sorry Mac and Linux fans) so that you too can build your own fabber, chocolate or otherwise. No word on if you can make a totally fab Fabergé egg with a fabber, however.[Via Hack A Day]
