AMD starts dismantling 2 old Austin chip plant
A sale would have been better than a $15M charge. Although, at least they are getting ~84,000-square-feet of office space (as opposed to nothing).
JJ
austin360.com
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. formally closed its two older Austin chip factories, Fabs 14 and 15, in June, and workers began dismantling them this month. AMD had been talking quietly with one potential buyer, who planned to keep running the factories for making specialized chips, probably for communications. But that deal never was completed.
Now the fabs are being decommissioned, starting with the removal of hundreds of pieces of chip manufacturing equipment. Art Rodriguez, director of AMD facilities in Texas, said about half the equipment will be sold to other chip factories, and 40 percent will be donated to educational institutions, including Southwest Texas State University. Another 10 percent will be recycled as scrap.
Once the equipment is gone, the company must recycle and dispose of tens of miles of piping systems as well as the factories' big air-conditioning and air-filtering systems.
By mid-2003, the 42,000-square-feet of clean room areas are scheduled to be converted into two floors of office space for AMD workers. AMD says it expects to spend up to $15 million on closing the old factories. |
