Intel is about to spend $30 million (€27 million) preparing its manufacturing facility in Leixlip, Co Kildare, to produce its next generation chip, even though it has barely begun processing the latest Pentium III chip.
Despite the announcement this week of the rollout of new Pentium III chips built on .25 micron silicon, Intel Ireland is already preparing itself for the manufacture of .18 micron silicon, which is expected to hit the market next year.
The smaller .18 micron manufacturing process is significant for all chip makers because it allows them to churn out greater volumes of higher-performance products at lower cost. Intel will be the first semiconductor company to engage in mass production of the .18 micron processor which can clock speeds of 600 megahertz and greater. At the moment, Intel's fastest Pentium II Xeon chip can only reach speeds of 450 megahertz.
According to industry sources, engineering consultants have already been engaged by Intel here to assess the changes necessary to refit Fab (Fabrication plant) 14 to produce .18 micron silicon by mid-2000. This process is expected to replace the .25 micron manufacturing process which just started commercial production of the high-speed Pentium III processor this week. The value of the initial engineering contract has been placed at around $30 million.
The development strengthens the Republic's position in Intel's chip development amid industry speculation over which international Fabs would be chosen to produce the latest technology.
Intel recently started a recruitment campaign in the Republic and it is expected to take on a further 400 staff this year, bringing its total Irish workforce to around 4,400 people.
According to an Intel spokesman: "A number of people have been seconded to engage in preparatory work to establish the configurations necessary to produce .18 micron technology."
He added that the Leixlip plant had also begun preparatory thinking about the logistics involved in the shift from 200 to 300 millimetre wafer manufacture. This marks the next major chip manufacturing process breakthrough for the semiconductor industry, and it is expected to happen in the next three to five years. It is thought its development could double Intel's production capacity.
Intel will continue its new strategy of re-configuring equipment in older chip production facilities to produce the latest technologies. Production of .25 micron silicon will gradually "ramp down" and be replaced with .18 micron silicon as demand increases for the new product.
The .18 micron is currently being produced at an Intel development Fab in Santa Clara, California. Recently an Intel architecture marketing manager said the first .18 micron chips would be available in June as mobile parts only. It is now possible Intel will demonstrate an 800 gigahertz processor before 2000.
