 |
Intel plans to invest $7 billion over the next two years to build advanced manufacturing facilities in the United States that make faster, smaller chips that consume less energy.
The investment will fund deployment of Intel’s (NASDAQ: INTC) 32-nanometer manufacturing technology, the company said.
The announcement comes less than a month after the world’s largest maker of microprocessors used in personal computers said it would close plants in Southeast Asia and scale back U.S. operations under a restructuring that affects as many as 6,000 employees. Several of those plants, called fabs, made older designs that were less efficient.
That news came just one week after Intel reported a sharp drop in revenues due to a massive slowdown in worldwide sales.
Intel’s new investment will be made at existing manufacturing sites in Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico and will support some 7,000 jobs at those locations. The company said its total workforce in the U.S. is about 45,000.