For more than 50 years, Intel has been innovating, investing and supporting global semiconductor manufacturing and R&D that propel our digital age.
2023 was no exception as Intel teams across the globe installed new tools, delivered new clean rooms and completed construction of new buildings.
Consider these mind-boggling facts: In 2023, about 145,000 tons of steel was used to construct and expand these new facilities. Throughout last year, construction teams also poured more than 2 million cubic yards of concrete across all of Intel’s projects – enough concrete to build New York’s Empire State Building 32 times over.
“Intel’s global manufacturing network is foundational to our operational success as we build a resilient, trusted and sustainable supply chain for the entire industry,” said Keyvan Esfarjani, executive vice president and chief global operations officer at Intel. “We must continue to invest in the future and plan for success to support the expected increase in long-term semiconductor demand around the world.”
Here’s a recap of Intel’s 10 largest building projects worldwide – in Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Ireland, Israel, Magdeburg, Penang and Kulim in Malaysia, and Poland – and what to expect from these construction sites in 2024.
Arizona, U.S.: Fab 52 and 62 Concrete Superstructure Completed
Progress So Far: Intel is investing more than $32 billion to build two new leading-edge chip factories and to modernize an existing fab at its Ocotillo campus in Chandler, Arizona, where it will produce some of the world’s most advanced logic chips. In December 2023, construction teams achieved a significant milestone for Fab 52: completion of the “cheese slab” concrete pour, which forms the base of the fab level.
Construction teams have poured over 430,000 cubic yards of concrete to date – enough to fill 132 Olympic-size swimming pools.
Teams have also started installing the fab’s automated material handling system (AMHS). Think of it as a fully automated highway that snakes around the fab, shuttling wafers from one station to another.
New Mexico, U.S.: Tool Installs Continue in Fab 9 and Fab 11x Ahead of Foundry Ramp
Progress So Far: Last year was a torrid one for Intel New Mexico as teams delivered pristine clean room space and facilitated the installation of tools for Fab 9 and Fab 11x.
In late January, Intel celebrated the opening of Fab 9. It’s the company’s advanced packaging manufacturing hub and the only U.S. high-volume advanced packaging site to date. Intel is investing more than $4 billion to equip operations at Intel’s Rio Rancho campus in New Mexico for the manufacturing of advanced semiconductor packaging. Later this year, teams will install and qualify more tools at Fabs 9 and 11x.
Ohio, U.S.: More than 248,000 Dump Trucks Full of Dirt Moved
Progress So Far: In Ohio, construction is well underway on Intel’s newest U.S. site in more than 40 years. There’s plenty of cool numbers to marvel over: Consider the more than 4 million cubic yards of earth moved over the past year, equal to about 248,000 dump truck loads. Teams also installed 10 miles of underground utilities and 32 miles of conduit.
Intel broke ground at the New Albany, Ohio, site in September 2022 and is investing more than $28 billion to construct two new leading-edge chip factories. The initial phase of the Ohio project is expected to create 3,000 Intel jobs, 7,000 construction jobs and approximately 10,000 indirect jobs.
In 2022, Intel pledged an additional $100 million toward partnerships with educational institutions to build a pipeline of talent and bolster research programs in the region. This investment includes a $50 million global partnership with the National Science Foundation and $50 million to fund the Semiconductor Education and Research Program (SERP) for Ohio.
This year, the team continues to build out the new fab’s above-ground utility level and will be receiving superloads (extremely large truck loads of manufacturing equipment) that will travel from Manchester in Adams County to the Intel Ohio One campus in New Albany.
Oregon, U.S.: Breaking Ground on a New Manufacturing Support Building at Gordon Moore Park
Progress So Far: In September 2023, Intel celebrated the groundbreaking of MSB2 – a new support building adjacent to the existing D1X fab, Intel’s largest Technology Development site. Intel plans to invest more than $36 billion in its R&D operations in Hillsboro, which will enable Intel to deliver industry-leading process technology beyond 2025.
The site continues to be a hive of activity this year as construction ramps into high gear. When completed, MSB2 will provide an additional 35,000 square feet of clean room space, six truck docks to enable a faster-than-ever tool install ramp for D1X, and an elevator with a 65,000-pound capacity to handle the heaviest components of ASML’s cutting-edge High Numerical Aperture Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography scanners. (ASML shipped its first High-NA EUV system to Intel in December.)
Leixlip, Ireland: Fab 34 is Europe’s First Chip Fab to Use EUV in High-Volume Chipmaking
Progress So Far: In September, Mod 1 of Fab 34 officially began high-volume production on the Intel 4 process technology. Fab 34 is the first fab in Europe to use EUV in high-volume manufacturing.
“Intel’s Ireland operations are a cornerstone of our global manufacturing footprint, and an important part of building an end-to-end semiconductor manufacturing value chain in Europe,” said Esfarjani in an Intel Newsroom release to celebrate the occasion.
“As we continue to advance our 17-billion-euro investment, this marks a significant milestone and a win for our Ireland operations as it brings Intel’s latest and greatest Intel 4 technology utilizing EUV to Fab 34, Ireland and Europe,” he said.
In January, Fab 34 celebrated its first Meteor Lake shipment. With Mod 1 operational, all eyes are on bringing the next clean room – Mod 2 – to life.
Keyvan Esfarjani (sixth from left), executive vice president and chief global operations officer at Intel, joins Intel Israel construction and site teams at the Fab 38 construction site in Kiryat Gat, Israel, in August 2023. (Credit: Intel Corporation).
A drone photo shows Intel Israel’s Fab 38 at Kiryat Gat in February 2024. (Credit: Intel Corporation)
Kiryat Gat, Israel: Construction on a New $25 Billion Fab is Underway
Progress So Far: Kiryat Gat – currently home to Intel’s most advanced manufacturing facility in Israel – will soon welcome Fab 38. Located adjacent to Fab 28, the $25 billion expansion will produce advanced chips on EUV lithography.
The Israel site currently employs about 11,000 employees across four locations: Haifa (a key hardware and software development center for processors and AI), Petah Tikvah (a communication and AI solutions development center), Jerusalem (home to Mobileye’s global development center for autonomous cars and a communications, software and cybersecurity development center) and Kiryat Gat.
2024 marks 50 years of operations for Intel Israel.
Magdeburg, Germany: Being Good Neighbors and New Apprenticeship Program
Progress So Far: In June 2023, Intel announced a revised letter of intent with the German government to increase the scope of government incentives for Intel’s planned leading-edge wafer fabrication site in Magdeburg.
In September, Intel leaders demonstrated how Intel intends to be good neighbors with the local community as the Magdeburg site grows: They joined the Ottersleben Summer Fair – a popular community event that included an Intel demo booth and panel discussions.
Teams are excited about launching a new technical internship program this year. It’ll see apprentices spending two years in Magdeburg followed by a third year at Intel’s Ireland fab to learn firsthand how fab tools are run.
It’s also important for Intel to help shape the future of the region together with the local community. This was recently demonstrated by the technical cooperation with sports clubs SC Magdeburg and 1. FC Magdeburg.
Malaysia: A $7 Billion Advanced Packaging Facility and a New ATM Factory Take Shape
Progress So Far: In late 2021, Intel announced a key expansion at its Penang site in Malaysia. This $7 billion investment represents Intel’s largest advanced packaging facility for 3D packaging technology and will span a 710,000-square-foot clean room with two levels of manufacturing space.
It’s not Intel Malaysia’s only build-out. In Kulim, about an hour’s drive from Penang, Malaysia’s fifth assembly test manufacturing (ATM) factory is under construction.
Both teams are heads-down as they prepare their construction sites for the arrival of their first capital tools:
- In Kulim, Intel teams will begin moving in factory tools in the first half of the year.
- In Penang, Intel teams are looking forward to operational readiness of their new facility later this year. Joint teams have begun moving in key fab tools: Its first set of clean room equipment began arriving in November in wooden crates trucked into the site from warehouses nearby. Each crate weighed up to a ton.
Wrocław West, Poland: Cooperating with Local Universities to Advance Science and Technology Curriculum
Progress So Far: In June 2023, Intel revealed plans for a new assembly and test facility in Wrocław West, Poland, that would support about 2,000 employees.
The $4.6 billion project will be the largest greenfield investment in the history of Poland. The location was chosen for several reasons: existing infrastructure, a strong talent base and excellent business environment.
Intel continues activities with local communities and cooperation with universities. An example is the agreement Intel recently signed with Wrocław University of Science and Technology. The agreement involves areas including joint research and development projects, the development and adaptation of the education curriculum to bring it closer to the real needs of industry, and lectures to be delivered by Intel specialists.
Intel is conducting activities to develop talent and support education. Examples include the agreement with the Ministry of Education and GovTech as part of the Intel® Digital Readiness educational programs and introduction of AI teaching to secondary schools and cooperation with universities like the Poznań University of Technology, the Krakow AGH University of Science and Technology, and the Silesian University of Technology, where an Intel laboratory was opened and a new field of study was introduced.