The Intel fab — known as D1X module 2 — is intended to be a development fab for production of ICs on 450mm diameter wafers. However, the breaking of ground for the wafer fab was not widely reported at the time it occurred.
The first D1X module is expected to be the first wafer fab to produce 14nm FinFET chips for Intel on 300mm diameter wafers. Back in October 2012 Intel said construction of D1X module 2 would begin in 2013 and take more than two years to complete, with wafer manufacturing equipment installation expected to begin in 2015, which would put first wafers out in 2016.
D1X module 2 is also expected to be connected to the existing D1X with the likelihood that this will include a link between clean rooms.
The 450 mm fab is expected to cost $2 billion, not including equipment, but there is no schedule for when the fab will start, the spokesperson added.
In June 2012, it was reported that the Taiwanese government had approved a proposal to build a Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. 450mm wafer fab in central Taiwan early in 2014. The total cost, including equipment, was expected to be about $8 billion, but the fab was predicted to be capable of producing wafers with a value of about $6.7 billion per year in 2019. TSMC said back in 2011 that it planned to install 450mm pilot lines within a couple of established wafer fabs — Fab 12 in Hsinchu and Fab 15 in Taichung, Taiwan
SOURCE – EETimes
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