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Intel Will Expand Again ; Chip Maker Plans Manufacturing Site

Posted on: Saturday, 24 September 2005, 03:00 CDT

For the second time in 14 months, Intel Corp. on Thursday made a big-money commitment to upgrade its Colorado Springs chip-making plant.

Intel has earmarked as much as $190 million -- on top of $400 million announced last year -- to create a second manufacturing site in the nowvacant half of its huge plant on Garden of the Gods Road.

The newly announced plan will allow Intel to do work on the company's leading-edge microprocessors in one section of what is called a clean room, while manufacturing chips for Intel's communications group in the other part.

Intel opened its Springs plant in March 2001 but has occupied only half of it until now, manufacturing flash memory chips used in cell phones and other wireless electronic gadgets.

Intel put up $400 million last year to fund construction of the second half of the plant, a 160,000-square-foot clean room. Thursday's announcement brings to $590 million the amount Intel will spend on con- struction here by 2008.

The company has added 109 jobs at the Springs plant since July 2004 and is projecting an increase of several hundred more hires over the next three years. The plant now employs 905.

Communications manager Judy Cara said she could not say exactly how many new jobs will be added or when. She did say the company is holding at least 10 positions for evacuees from Hurricane Katrina.

"We're hiring now through job fairs and on college campuses," Cara said. "Some employees will transfer from other Intel sites, and we are looking at (high-tech) companies in Colorado where there have been head-count reductions."

According to a report in The Coloradoan in Fort Collins, most of the positions Intel was hiring for at a recent job fair were for manufacturing technicians with a salary range of $35,000 to $50,000 annually.

The average salary at the Springs plant is $53,000, Cara said.

Construction of the new manufacturing area is set to begin immediately, which should allow work on the microprocessors to begin in the second half of 2007.

The newly announced manufacturing operation will perform the last 10 percent of work on the microprocessors -- produced on 300- millimeter wafers -- before they are sent off to another location for testing and packaging.

The rest of the new manufacturing area will be devoted to wireless fidelity computer chips (WiFi), worldwide interoperability from microwave access chips (WiMax) and other communications products.

"This is a significant piece of good news," said Michael Kazmierski, president and CEO of the Greater Colorado Springs Economic Development Corp. "It indicates a very strong commitment to the community by Intel, and we're very excited about it because Intel is such an excellent corporate citizen, one that is very involved in the community."

At a Thursday news conference in Fort Collins, Intel also revealed that it had signed an agreement to buy the old Celestica printed-circuit-board plant there as a home for its Design Center team. Intel hired the HP Intel Itanium processor design team in Fort Collins last December, and they had been leasing space on HP's grounds.

Intel also said Thursday that it is moving ahead with a $155 million upgrade at its Hudson, Mass., wafer plant, where it will add manufacturing equipment and reconfigure portions of the factory.

The world's largest chip maker, Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel had revenue of $34.2 billion last year with earnings of $7.5 billion.

Shares of Intel gained 6 cents to $24.55 by the close of trading on the Nasdaq on Thursday.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0126 or bainbird@gazette.com INTEL'S HISTORY IN COLORADO SPRINGS

2001: Opened its 500,000-squarefoot plant on Garden of the Gods Road but halted construction on its second manufacturing area in the building and reduced its 1,100-person work force through attrition as the technology-led economic boom of the late 1990s fizzled. 2002: Abandoned plans to buy 700 acres near the Colorado Springs Airport, where city officials hoped the company would put several buildings and hire thousands of people.

2004: Committed $400 million to expand the manufacturing capacity of the plant, focusing on production of chips for wireless computers and other hand-held devices.

Thursday: Announced it will invest up to another $190 million to create a second module in its 160,000-square-foot clean room to work on its microprocessors.

THE DETAILS

Intel Corp. will invest up to $190 million to upgrade its Colorado Springs electronics chip-making plant on Garden of the Gods Road, in addition to the $400 million it budgeted in July 2004.

Intel will hire "several hundred" employees over the next three years. It now employs 905 in the Springs. Average salary at the plant is $53,000.

The 160,000-square-foot "clean room" will operate two modules -- one for microprocessors and the other for chip products for Intel's communications group.

Source: Gazette, The; Colorado Springs, Colo.

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