Intel Postpones Opening of Fab 42 Plant in Arizona

Intel has decided to postpone the opening of their Fab 42 plant in Arizona indefinitely. The plant was supposed to open at the end of last year after being announced in February of 2011. Intel was said to be investing $5 billion into the project.

Intel Fab 42

Fab 42 was a pretty high profile project as president Obama highlighted it as a prime example of potential, manufacturing in the US. So why has Intel decided to not open the plant? Well their reasoning is that their fab utilization is at 80% so spending the additional capital is not really worth it. Intel will be using already existing fab space in Arizona for both 14 and 22 nm processes.

The newer facility will be used for “future technology” which we can only guess would be 10 nm fab production. Intel’s decision makes sense, but many people could see this as a bad thing for Intel.

Source: Computer World | News Archive

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