6 ms·
This is just anecdote, but my roommate's dad works in construction management specifically for semiconductor fabs, and he was working for about a year on one of
by AxiomaticSpace 1y ago
This is just anecdote, but my roommate's dad works in construction management specifically for semiconductor fabs, and he was working for about a year on one of Intel's new fabs in Arizona up until a few months ago when the entire project was suddenly scrapped. IIRC he got the sense it was someone high up in intel that decided to pull the plug on it.
- maplant 1y agoI mean, not to sound rude, but of course it would be someone high up who would make that decision. It’s not like a grunt could decide to scrap a whole new fab
- vivalahn 1y agoI could be wrong but I’d assume what the OP is trying to say is that the leadership of these companies does not want these fabs to actually open and work. That something transpired maybe between them and govt.
- bee_rider 1y ago[flagged]
- AxiomaticSpace 1y agoYea fair. What I was trying to say was that it seemed like a decision that was less the construction/development team saying "this plan isn't workable for xyz reason and we need to reconsider our approach" and more someone high up saying "we are cancelling this and we won't say why".
- dboreham 1y agoI left the semiconductor industry 30 years ago but back then every company had "a fab that hasn't been completed in Arizona" that people would talk fondly of perhaps opening one day if business picks up. Seems like not much has changed.
- itsnowandnever 1y agoI always thought it was funny that for my entire lifetime people have talked about Arizona being perfect for fabs because it's dry there and not subject to tremors meanwhile Taiwan where 60% of all chips are produced (and 90% of the most sensitive ones) is tropical and has earthquakes fairly frequently.
- ansk 1y agoI can only imagine what the Taiwanese can do in Arizona. Truly a synergy for the ages.
- foobarian 1y agoMaybe that's why yields there are better? [1] [1] https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/semiconductors/tsmc-arizona-fab-delivers-4-percent-more-yield-than-comparable-facilities-in-taiwan https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/semiconductors/ts...
- dwd 1y agoOnce you're in a air-conditioned environment the outside world doesn't matter. More likely he compared the 4nm yield to the 3nm yield in Taiwan?
- eru 1y agoThe moisture of the outside world might not matter. But aircon doesn't protect you from earthquakes, alas.
- Gracana 1y agoYep, you need to install a ground conditioner for that.
- high_na_euv 1y ago
- ojbyrne 1y agoNew CEO started in March, I vaguely recall him cancelling fabs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lip-Bu_Tan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lip-Bu_Tan
- x3n0ph3n3 1y agoSo are they going to give back the money they got from the feds to build them?
- eclipticplane 1y ago[flagged]
- re-thc 1y agoThe govt got shares instead already
- WillPostForFood 1y agoIntel didn't cancel any fabs in Arizona, one just came online. They killed plans Fabs in Poland and Germany, and the Ohio fab is on hold. You don't get the money up front, so nothing to give back.
- eru 1y agoThough the relevant governments in Poland and Germany probably spent a lot of time and effort (and money). Only some of them they will get back. But I guess that's a risk they knew they were taking.
- rsynnott 1y agoI doubt there was much; the sort of outright subsidy the US sometimes does is usually classed as unlawful state aid in the EU (there are exceptions; in particular member states were allowed to bail out/nationalise their banks in the financial crisis. But subsidies to random foreign companies would generally be illegal; see the Apple tax case).
- ggm 1y agoFabs need pretty solid foundations IIRC, the systems don't like vibration. So this won't have been a cheap build. I also believe the construction methods for clean room is like a VOC purge on steroids. Whatever else goes into this build would have a huge impact on potentially reclaiming it for VLSI.
- tonyhart7 1y agowell, intel is loser on semiconductor boom
- pjob 1y agohttps://www.wsj.com/tech/intels-chips-act-requirements-waived-after-u-s-government-takes-stake-e0ec5cdb https://www.wsj.com/tech/intels-chips-act-requirements-waive... https://archive.is/nhLyB https://archive.is/nhLyB