Intel Ireland dismissed reports yesterday suggesting that it was being considered for a $500 million (€460 million) investment by its US parent to produce nanochip technology, Jamie Smyth, Technology Reporter
The firm, which is currently building a $2 billion fabrication plant in Leixlip, Co Kildare, said a report in the Israeli newspaper, Ha'aretz, was speculation.
Ha'aretz said Intel was considering several locations including Israel, China, Ireland and the US for a new investment in nanotechnology. Nanotechnology can be used to build microscopic mechanical and electrical devices such as motors and gears in a single slice of silicon. It is already used in the semiconductor industry to help build certain types of microchip.
Nanotechnology is also one of the key technology sectors that Science Foundation Ireland has identified as an important growth area.
Ha'aretz said Intel was planning to upgrade an existing fabrication plant to produce next generation nanotechnology chips. A decision would be made within weeks, said the newspaper.
An Intel Ireland spokesman dismissed the report's mention of the Republic as a possible location. He said there was nothing specific going on in the Republic with regard to the report. He said Intel's state-of-the-art Fab 24 facility was a very large project and its two other plants had also been upgraded to make flash memory chips.
An IDA Ireland spokesman said the Government did not know of any specific nanotechnology project planned by Intel.
Meanwhile, Intel chief executive, Mr Craig Barrett, said yesterday he did not yet see an industry-wide recovery, even though the firm raised its profit and revenue forecasts last week.
"It's too early to suggest it is a total turnaround," Mr Barrett told a news conference in Taipei, after signing a deal to open a research centre in Taiwan.
Intel said last Friday that revenues in the third quarter would rise roughly 11 per cent from the second quarter to $7.3-$7.8 billion because of stronger demand from computer-makers, sending its shares to a 14-month high.
Intel's chief financial officer, Mr Andy Bryant, however, also declined on Friday to call a definitive recovery in the struggling microchip industry and said sales of communications chips remained soft.
Intel manufactures a mixture of computer and communication chips in the Republic at its facility in Leixlip. It is scheduled to open its latest state-of-the-art fabrication Irish plant next year.
Separately, Mr Barrett said Intel would open its first "Asian innovation centre" in Taiwan with 25 researchers, a number that would double over the next couple of years. The centre would work with academic institutions and businesses to convert ideas into the next generation of products, he told reporters without giving any financial details. - (Additional reporting Reuters)
