X-bit labs

AMD Breaks Ground with a New Manufacturing Facility!

Category: CPU

by Anton Shilov

[ 11/20/2003 | 03:29 AM ]

Economic crisis is not fully over, but there is a company that urges to invest in the future – Advanced Micro Devices. The company today officially unveils plans to build a new fab in Dresden, Germany.

The facility, named AMD Fab 36, is part of AMD Dresden Fab 36 LLC & Co and will be located in Dresden, Germany, adjacent to AMD Fab 30. The 300mm AMD Fab 36 is expected to be in volume production in 2006. The new facility is expected to require approximately 1000 employees, most of them highly skilled engineers and technicians. The fab may become Europe’s largest semiconductor manufacturing facility, some analysts indicated.

AMD Fab 36 will produce future generations of AMD products using the third-generation of AMD’s patented automated manufacturing capabilities, known as Automated Precision Manufacturing (APM 3.0). There is no information whether the initial products at the Fab 36 will be made using 65nm technology or 90nm technology.

On Wednesday AMD also elaborated on the cost of the new manufacturing facility. The company expects the Fab 36 to cost approximately $2.4 billion over the next four years, significantly more than $1.3 billion indicated earlier. AMD has arranged external financing and government support of approximately $1.5 billion during that period. The external financing is expected to include up to approximately $700 million in loans from a consortium of banks, including an 80% residual guarantee from Germany and Saxony, approximately $500 million in anticipated grants and allowances from the Germany and Saxonian governments (pending European Union Commission approval), and up to approximately $320 million in equity funding from Saxony and a group of European investors led by M+W Zander.

AMD promised to hold a teleconference to discuss the new facility; I expect them to bring out some more details about the fab. Stay tuned.