One news headline in Ireland put it thus: “Intel throws in its chips” — it is clear the chipmaker is betting big on its Irish staff.
“These are huge bets the company is making in the investment in Ireland,” said Jim O’Hara, general manager of Intel Ireland, who stressed the location as a stable environment, economically and politically.
The new plant at Leixlip, called Fab 24.2, did not come without a struggle, however. Cheaper locations in Asia were turned down, as was a possible development in Israel.
The investment, deploying the latest 65-nanometer technology, will enable Intel to make a chip that is “smaller, faster, more powerful and with more functionality,” Mary Harney, Ireland’s minister for enterprise trade and investment, said last week.
Stable was a word also singled out by Harney, who said: “Ireland faced stiff competition from several locations for this investment and the decision by Intel to commence this new phase of investment in its Irish operations confirms Ireland’s position as a world-class technology location and one of Europe’s top locations for semiconductor innovation and manufacturing.”
Unspoken was the thought that Asian and Israeli locations are at higher risk of disruption from terrorist attacks and the security risk in Kildare is clearly much lower.
Good for the workers, good for Intel and good for Ireland — but also good for Harney and the government, who have been working hard behind the scenes to make sure Intel continues to flourish and develop in Ireland, though both the government and Intel denied that the development was politically opportunistic so close to the European elections.
O’Hara said: “We are delighted that the corporation has made this further commitment to the enhancement of the Leixlip campus, by positioning us as one of their lead 65-nanometer high-volume manufacturing facilities.
“This is a magnificent endorsement of the results achieved to date by a talented Irish team.”
If all goes according to plan, by 2006 the new facility will be complete and Intel will employ 4,000 staff and 1,000 contractors at Leixlip, in the company’s customary super-sterile laboratories. Sweat, a human hair, or even a tiny piece of dirt or detritus invading the chip-making process can cause millions of euro in damage.
The Intel facility in County Kildare is the company’s only European outlet and the largest outside of the U.S. This new investment will see the manufacturing of the company’s latest computer chip technology.
Staff will use new technology to make chips for computers and cell phones, cramming more transistors onto each chip than anywhere else in the world: the 65-nanometer technology — a nanometer is a billionth of a meter — will enable Intel to dramatically increase its productivity and reduce its manufacturing costs.
Some 300 Irish staffers will be trained in the process in Oregon over the next two years.
Earlier this year Intel teamed up with Trinity College Dublin to set up a nanotechnology center at the university, and in 2003 it established its own