Monday marked the day of a grand ribbon-cutting ceremony for Intel as the company opened its latest expansion of the D1X development factory in Hillsboro, Oregon. The event was led by Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger and Ann Kelleher, executive vice president and general manager of Technology Development.
The facility has been Intel’s technological advancements navel for the past 2 decades and was renamed Gordon Moore Park. Intel spent over $3B in the expansion process. The new name honors Intel co-founder, Gordon Moore and more importantly, The Moore’s Law which Intel’s foundational processes have kept pace with for the past 2 decades. Gordon Moore Park is set to accelerate Intel’s plan that includes developing new technologies like the RibbonFET transistor architecture and PowerVia backside power delivery method that are essential to next-gen processes like Intel 18A.
“These groundbreaking process innovations all originated right here in Oregon. With the new expansion of our D1X factory, Oregon is well-positioned to deliver the next generation of leading-edge technologies,” said Ann Kelleher, executive VP and general manager of Technology Development at Intel as published by the company.
Intel Corporation has been shuffling in recent times giving triumphant room to rivals like Samsung and TSMC whose chip technology outperforms Intel’s. In mid-March, Intel announced plans of investing 17 billion euros into a semiconductor fab mega-site in Germany. The hub was meant to produce Intel’s next-generation semiconductors (Intel 20A and Intel 18A nodes).
As Intel tries to revive its dominance in the chip manufacturing industry, production of the next-gen chips remains at the heart of the company’s plans. As such, investing in R&D is indispensable.
Since Pat Gelsinger took over as the CEO in February 2021, Intel has been making tectonic shifts as part of Gelsinger’s pledge to fix the company’s manufacturing issues.
Another important update from Intel involves a change in timelines. The company expects Intel 18A to be ready for 2024 instead of 2025 as announced last summer.
