Intel gets green light for $2.2B China fab

By Colleen Taylor -- Electronic News, 3/13/2007

In the latest evidence of Silicon Valley's increasingly strong bond with China, Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel Corp. is reportedly moving forward with plans to build a $2.5 billion chip plant there.

The company has received the green light from China's National Development and Reform Commission to go ahead with the construction of a 12-inch wafer fab in the northeastern city of Dalian that will use 90-nm technology, according to reports from various news sources including the Associated Press. The plant will reportedly have a monthly capacity of 52,000 chips.

When contacted by Electronic News today, an Intel spokesperson said that the company will not "comment on speculation" and added that Intel has not yet made any statements on the reports. Rumors of the China investment have been swirling since January, when reports surfaced that Intel was planning to build a leading-edge fab in China that would cost upward of $2 billion.

Although the investment would mark Intel's first fab of its kind in China, it would by no means be Intel's first investment in the country. According to Intel's Web site, the chipmaker has had a presence in China since 1985 and currently employs more than 6,000 workers there in assembly, testing, research and development, and sales and marketing.