- (Reuters) -- Intel will build a $3.5 billion chip plant
in Israel, the largest investment ever by an industrial company in the
country.
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- Thursday's news of Intel's second plant in Israel--which
will produce 300-millimeter wafers using a 45-nanometer process starting
in the second half of 2008--confirms an announcement made in July by Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon.
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- Sharon had said the company would invest around $4 billion.
Until now, Intel had declined to comment.
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- "Intel is committed to widening its lead in advanced
semiconductor manufacturing," Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini
said in a statement.
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- The government has already approved a grant of $525 million
for the new facility, as well as Intel's $600 million plan to upgrade its
existing plant.
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- Construction on the project, which will be Intel's second
45-nanometer factory in the world, will begin immediately, the company
said.
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- The 45-nanometer technology will allow chip circuitry
to be built at about half the size of today's standard 90-nanometer technology.
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- Intel said the project will create more than 2,000 new
jobs at the new plant in the southern town of Kiryat Gat, the site of the
existing plant that employs about 3,500 people.
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- The world's top chipmaker, whose processors power an
estimated 80 percent of personal computers, reported exports from Israel
of $1.17 billion in 2004. Its exports peaked at $2.02 billion in 2002.
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- The company, which has two plants and five development
centers in Israel, accounted for 9 percent of Israel's total electronics
and information technology exports in 2004. Centrino mobile technology
was developed in Israel.
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- In 1999, Intel--active in Israel for 30 years--built
its first plant in Kiryat Gat with a total investment of $1.6 billion,
including government subsidies.
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- Manufacturing with 300-millimeter wafers--about 12 inches
in diameter--significantly increases the ability to produce semiconductors
at a lower cost compared with more commonly used 200mm wafers. They also
use 40 percent less energy and water per chip, Intel said.
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