GM and Thread, Good news from Intel:
techweb.cmp.com
Intel To Invest $1B To Re-Tool Flash Fab
By Andrew MacLellan
Countering rumors that its flash memory strategy has softened in recent weeks, Intel Corp. said it will spend $1 billion over the next year to re-tool one of two Albuquerque, N.M., flash chip manufacturing facilities.
Intel's $1 billion investment in its fab 9 plant will move the facility to 8-in. wafers and 0.25-micron line widths, using a process technology developed at the company's D2 Santa Clara, Calif., fab for both flash chips and Pentium-class processors.
The move follows Intel's recent decision to scrap flash manufacturing plans at fab 18 in Kiryat Gat, Israel, which instead will make logic ICs when it comes on line in 1999. The announcement prompted some to question Intel's continued commitment to flash memory, particularly in light of declining market share which is expected to slip from about 40% in 1996 to 33% this year, according to Semico Research Corp., Phoenix.
In an effort to silence critics, Intel will divert equipment originally earmarked for the Israel fab to fab 9 where the larger wafers and tighter process geometry will yield eight times as many chips as the older technology, said Saul Zales, Intel's flash memory product marketing manager.
"There are people who question the commitment here, and the commitment is to spend $1 billion to provide our customers with leading edge technology," Zales said. "The overall intent was to look at our factory network and see what made the most sense in terms of meeting the needs of the industry."
Flash chips manufactured on the new technology will be available in mid-1998 from the D2 facility and from fab 9 in early 1999. Fab 7, the other Albuquerque facility, will continue making flash chips using 6-in. wafers and a 0.4-micron process. Intel also manufactures flash chips in Japan as part of a joint venture with Sharp Corp.
Intel's decision to port 0.25-micron technology across both logic and memory product lines stems from the company's Copy Exact program to ensure hegemony across different manufacturing lines and geographical boundaries. Intel recently introduced a multi-level flash memory cell architecture known as StrataFlash. The company said a 64-Mbit version flash chip is slated for the first quarter 1998, with a 32-Mbit device following in the second quarter. |
