Intel to invest $8 billion in futuristic manufacturing technology

The world's largest chip maker Intel Corporation said that it will invest between $6 billion and $8 billion on future generations of manufacturing technology in its facilities in the US.

The investment will fund deployment of the company's next-generation 22- nanometer (nm) manufacturing process across several existing US factories, along with construction of a new development fabrication plant (commonly called a ''fab'') in Oregon.

The projects will support 6,000 to 8,000 construction jobs and result in 800 to 1,000 new permanent high-tech jobs, said Santa Clara, California-based Intel in a statement.

''Today's announcement reflects the next tranche of the continued advancement of Moore's Law and a further commitment to invest in the future of Intel and America,'' said Intel president and CEO Paul Otellini.  ''The most immediate impact of our multi-billion-dollar investment will be the thousands of jobs associated with building a new fab and upgrading four others, and the high-wage, high-tech manufacturing jobs that follow.''

The PC industry is achieving a significant milestone this year with 1 million PCs shipping per day. The upgraded fabs create the capacity for the continued growth of the PC market segment and additional computing markets Intel is addressing, such as mobile and embedded computing.

Intel's brand-new development fab in Oregon – to be called ''D1X'' – is scheduled for R&D startup in 2013. Intel will also upgrade four existing factories in Arizona and Oregon.