Intel opens new Fab, moved up 18A process.

Armenius said:
This isn't new for Intel. Fab 12/24 in Arizona has already been making desktop Intel chips for more than a decade. Most of Intel's fabrication takes place in the US.
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I think that’s why he said “more chip production”.
 
damn i just looked at some chips i have laying around here on my wall... none say made in usa... so whats being made here and at any of the us fabs?
 
Armenius said:
This isn't new for Intel. Fab 12/24 in Arizona has already been making desktop Intel chips for more than a decade. Most of Intel's fabrication takes place in the US.
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This article is more about an expansion of Intel's Hillsboro development fab - where they develop the chipmaking processes that get transfered (copy exact) to their fabs around the world.
 
illaghee said:
damn i just looked at some chips i have laying around here on my wall... none say made in usa... so whats being made here and at any of the us fabs?
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Intel chips are made here, Israel, or Ireland but final assembly can happen in all sorts of places

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_bonding

it's like Micron making memory chips, then dozens of different resellers put them on a DIMM - Intel likely handles all packaging in-house, but it's a lot cheaper to do it overseas.
 
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illaghee said:
damn i just looked at some chips i have laying around here on my wall... none say made in usa... so whats being made here and at any of the us fabs?
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They are labeled with their final assembly point. Once the chips are fabbed they undergo initial testing on the wafer, but then the wafers are shipped off to a separate facility where they get cut apart, put in to the final retail package (meaning the actual thing you put in the computer), have final testing and QA done, and the boxed up. That second place is where they are labeled as being "made in" because the legal requirements of "made in" labels are a little silly. It comes from a time when things were largely if not completely made in one place. Now it just means wherever the final thing was assembled.

So in the case of fabs Intel has most of them in the US, a good few in Israel, and a couple in Ireland. They are also looking at building new ones in other countries. For packaging they have that all over, they do have some in the US but Costa Rica is another location you'll often encounter for US chips.

Basically we really should either change or get rid of "made in" for the modern world because it is often misleading or useless. Something can contain parts from all over, have all the high technology stuff done in various places, but then the site where it gets put in a box is the one that says "made in". Like my GPU. It was "made in China" because that is where the chip was put on the board with the other components. However the chip itself was fabbed in Korea (GeForce 30 series), but the R&D work on it was done in the US. Likewise many of the components on the board come from Japan. Oh but it was "packaged in the US" because that's where they put the card in the actual box they sold it in. So where was it "made"? The real answer is all over. All the parts, R&D, fab, assembly, etc were all essential to it being a final product, none produce something on their own. It was literally an international production, as are so many things in our lives today.
 
thanks all for the replies, explains alot 90% of my chips say costa rica... now ima hunt ones that say us or israel n ireland.
 
staknhalo said:
Even if you guys don't like Intel, it's good to have more chip production back home in the US
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Nice try, it’s in Portland. Not the USA.

We had a ex-Intel guy recently join us here in Texas. He just straight up moved to Texas and THEN looked for a job in the semiconductor industry. Getting out of Portland was more important to him than having another job lined up. I can’t imagine that level of desperation.
 
illaghee said:
thanks all for the replies, explains alot 90% of my chips say costa rica... now ima hunt ones that say us or israel n ireland.
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Similar to what was mentioned previously, the company I work for manufacturers the actual wafers here in the United States. But then we ship the wafers to Asia to get diced up and put in the black packaging. Lots of good paying jobs here in the states, but ultimately the chips do end up in Asia.
 
Isn't Intel making a huge bet by investing an enormous amount further into the x86 platform? Perhaps somebody with more insight can add some color here. Can these manufacturing plants be converted in the future, or is it a singular bet on x86?
 
bananas1 said:
Isn't Intel making a huge bet by investing an enormous amount further into the x86 platform? Perhaps somebody with more insight can add some color here. Can these manufacturing plants be converted in the future, or is it a singular bet on x86?
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The instruction set is independent of the fabrication plant.
 
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