Intel plans for more manufacturing in Ireland, Israel, Oregon
However, there are also reports that Intel has ended its multi-year dalliance with custom foundry provision.
Kelleher said the move is being made as part of a transformation of Intel from a PC-centric to a data-centric company. As a result Intel will pursue a $300 billion annual available chip market and make a greater diversity of products at higher volumes for a broader set of customers, Kelleher added.
Kelleher did not indicate how much Intel intends to spend at each site over what period of time.
“This year, we raised our capital expenditures forecast and put that money to work expanding our 14nm manufacturing capacity to increase supply. We also made good progress on the previously announced schedule for Fab 42 fit-out in Arizona, and we made the decision to locate development of a new generation of storage and memory technology at our manufacturing plant in New Mexico. Looking ahead, we are now in the early planning phase for manufacturing site expansions in Oregon, Ireland and Israel, with multi-year construction activities expected to begin in 2019,” Kelleher said in an article on the company’s website.
Next: Intel wants faster response
The manufacturing move would appear to be in part being made to address a shortfall in production capacity that occurred in 2018 (see Intel blames production shortfall on strong demand). Intel has put this down to unexpected demand but it was also partly exacerbated by Intel’s slowness at bringing its 10nm manufacturing process up to speed. In a few years Intel has gone from the acknowledged manufacturing leader to a follower behind TSMC and Samsung.
“Having additional fab space at-the-ready will help us respond more quickly to upticks in the market and enables us to reduce our time to increased supply by up to roughly 60 percent,” said Kelleher.
Kelleher added that Intel would continue to make selective use of foundries and pointed out that makes sense as Intel starts to make a greater diversity of products.
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