Intel will spend $3.5 billion to upgrade its fab in New Mexico

Recently, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger appeared on the 60 Minutes program, in an interview with CBS News reporter Leslie Stahl to discussed the issue of chip shortage and confirmed that Intel plans to reduce its focus on stock repurchase in the future, and has reached an agreement with the board of directors. In the first quarter of this year, Intel repurchased shares worth approximately $2.3 billion.

Pat Gelsinger said Intel will invest $3.5 billion to upgrade its fab located in New Mexico. Intel has issued a press release announcing that a press conference will be held at 9 am on May 3rd, PT time. This is part of the Intel IDM 2.0 strategy. After the upgrade, the fab in New Mexico, in addition to expanding production capacity, can also undertake third-party foundry business.

Credit: Intel Corporation

In addition, Intel has also added $600 million in Israel for research and development work and will spend 10 billion US dollars to build a new fab. The first phase of construction has begun. The fab project in New Mexico may also include the production of the Optane series. In addition to the production of chips, it is also the R&D center of Optane technology.

Intel initially cooperated with Micron to develop this technology, but after the two sides broke up peacefully, Intel has announced that it will transfer the research and development of 3D XPoint flash memory technology here. As Micron has announced that it will completely withdraw from the 3D XPoint technology business, it will sell its 3D XPoint flash memory chip factory in Lehi, Utah by the end of 2021.

Intel confirmed to TomsHardware that it will continue to provide the Optane series of products to corporate customers. This means that in the future, Intel will either acquire Micron’s related production lines or establish a new production line by itself. Currently, the foundry in New Mexico cannot produce 3D XPoint flash memory chips.