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Technology Stocks : Intel Corporation (INTC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dan3 who wrote (104552)	6/19/2000 9:12:00 AM
From: Road Walker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

Monday June 19, 7:24 am Eastern Time Intel in $2 bln Irish expansion (UPDATE: Writes through, adds deputy prime minister statement) By Tony Roddam DUBLIN, June 19 (Reuters) - Intel Corp, the world's largest computer chip maker, said on Monday it planned to almost double its semiconductor chip manufacturing capacity in Ireland in one of the largest investments in the history of the Irish state. The $2.0 billion investment, which the government hailed as as a massive vote of confidence in its technology policies, will add 1,000 jobs at Intel's European manufacturing site at Leixlip, west of Dublin, which currently employs 4,400. ``This new investment will bring the Intel Leixlip site to the summit of manufacturing technology in the semiconductor sector globally and make it the most advanced wafer fabrication site in Europe,'' Deputy Prime Minister Mary Harney said. The Leixlip plant produces high-performance Pentium III and Intel Celeron processors. Intel will have invested $4.5 billion in Ireland by 2003, boosting Ireland's ambitions to become a leading high-technology country within Europe. ``Intel's arrival in Ireland in 1989 created a sea change in the perception of this country as a technology centre in Europe and generated a very significant and substantial chain effect in the industrial development process,'' Harney said. WORLD'S LARGEST EXPORTER OF SOFTWARE Figures from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development show Ireland is the world's top software exporter. The country's six-year economic boom has been driven to a large degree by an influx of investment from foreign corporations, attracted by relatively low corporate tax rates, the country's membership of the European Union and euro zone, and an English-speaking, well-educated workforce. The investment has not come without problems, however. Expansion has sorely tested Ireland's creaky infrastructure and employers are complaining about labour shortages in key areas, driving up salaries. Intel said the expansion project would add 50,000 square feet initially to the plant, with first production set to start in late 2001. In a second phase, an additional 85,000 square feet of cleanroom manufacturing capacity would be added. A spokesman estimated current capacity at around 160,000 square feet. He declined to estimate chip output. Craig Barrett, Intel chief executive, said the additional capacity would help the company maintain its leadership in the semiconductor market. ``It is a tribute to our team of managers and employees in Leixlip that Ireland has once again been chosen as the site for a major expansion,'' Barrett said in a statement. Intel currently employs some 3,000 people directly at the plant and a further 1,400 as long-term subcontractors. Intel said the project would be the single largest construction project in Ireland, using more than 1,500 workers. The new factory will initially manufacture on 200-millimetre silicon wafers but will be capable of moving on to the next generation of manufacturing technology on 300mm wafers, Intel said.