PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Advanced Micro Devices Inc. is in the planning stages of a 300-mm wafer fab for microprocessors, with an anticipated start-up date of around 2004, according to Hector Ruiz, president and chief operating officer of AMD.
Speaking at the Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS) here today, Ruiz said the facility, to be called Fab 35, will likely be a joint venture in order to share the risks and costs of the fab, which could cost in the range of $4 billion.
A 300-mm flash memory facility with Fujitsu Ltd. in Aizu-Wakamatsu, Japan, called "Joint Venture 4" (see July 19 story), is already in the works, Ruiz noted. When that facility was announced, AMD and Fujitsu estimated the cost at $1.5 billion and said the 300-mm fab would begin production in the second half of 2001. Currently, AMD has two main production fabs, in Austin, Tex., and Dresden, Germany.
During his ISS speech, Ruiz said he expects demand for personal computers to "return with a vengeance" no later than the second half of this year, and that demand will be sustained "for a long time to come."
