Fab 28 is due to start operations in March 2008 and reach volume
production of 7,500 wafers a month in mid-2009.
"We hope to build a third fab here, for which we have already
allocated enough space," said Kornhauser.
The lines at Fab 28, using 300-mm wafers and a 45-nm process, will
manufacture various processors, including Intel s Santa Rosa
processor, which is due to launched later this year.
According to Maxine Fassberg, vice president of the Technology and
Manufacturing Group and Fab 28 plant manager for Intel, there are now
3,000 construction workers on the site and around 150 capital
equipment companies are involved in the project.
The total investment is expected to reach $4 billion, including $1.1
billion in construction. Fab 28 will represent Israel s largest
construction project, and have an area of 130,000 square meters in
four buildings, including 20,000 square meters of class 10 clean
rooms.
Kornhauser declined to comment on these reports, but said that the
company is investing $600 million in Fab 18. Most of the money is
going to help the plant convert to from the current 90-nm to the
company's 65-nm process.
Intel Israel s exports reached $1.3 billion in 2006, up 9.2 percent
from 2005. The company expects this to increase to $2 billion for
this year. Exports from Israel between 1999 and 2006 reached $11
billion and the company has received $800 million in government
grants.
The chip giant, which has been operating in Israel since 1974, had
6,820 workers in Israel in 2006, including 3,000 at its four research
and development centers.
Intel's next fab in Israel, Fab 28, being built at Kiryat Gat, is
expected to generate exports worth $3 billion a year
stated Alex Kornhauser, Intel VP and head of the company's activity
in Israel, at a press conference organized by the company, made the
estimate.