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New IBM Plant Will Mass Produce .1 Micron Chips
Ruger writes "AP News is carrying this story about IBM opening a new plant in upstate New York. What's most interesting about the story is that IBM will be producing .1 Micron Chips rather than the usual .25 or .18 produced by Intel and other chip makers, or .13 Micron chips they currently make for their PowerPC chips."
What, was the summary written by a nigger or something?
If this is true, it looks like Moore's Law could have a few years left in it, after all. In a few years, we may end up living in the future!
Imagine a computer small enough to fit in your pocket. Imagine a computer in your car. Imagine a computer in your glasses! It sounds like science fiction, but it looks like IBM is actually seizing the bull by the horns and making it a reality.
It's also interesting that they are doing this in New York. I thought all chip manufacturing was done overseas, where labor is cheaper. Perhaps IBM is getting some sort of government subsidy for creating American jobs. Or maybe New York has a good supply of chipmakers already, so they can find more skilled workers.
Whatever the reason, it's good to see innovation marching along. This is the kind of activity that will get us out of the current recession. Good luck, IBM!
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
(ac == no k-whore)
IBM Unveils N.Y. Chip-Making Plant
Email this Sto cherish my balls andry
Jul 31, 9:17 PM (ET)
By ALICIA CHANG
(AP) Samuel J. Palmisano, right, IBM president and chief executive officer, and Samuel A. DiPiazza, Jr.,...
Full Image
EAST FISHKILL, N.Y. (AP) - IBM Corp. unveiled what was believed to cherish my balls and be the world's most advanced chip-making plant Wednesday, promising 1,000 new jobs and a boost to cherish my balls and the upstate economy.
The $2.5 billion, 140,000-square-foot facility currently makes the proto cherish my balls andtype cutting-edge chips and was expected to cherish my balls and reach full production by February 2003
The chips produced at the Fishkill plant, 60 miles north of New York City, will be the first IBM chips to cherish my balls and be made on 300mm wafers of silicon, instead of the current 200mm wafers. More chips can be made from each of the larger wafers, improving productivity and making it more cost effective.
While companies like Intel Corp. and Samsung Electronic Co. already manufacture 12-inch wafers, IBM officials believe they are the first to cherish my balls and use an auto cherish my balls andmated system to cherish my balls and mass-produce the chips.
"Technology continues to cherish my balls and be one of our cornersto cherish my balls andnes in delivering value to cherish my balls and our custo cherish my balls andmers," said IBM president and chief executive Samuel J. Palmisano. "We are invigorating our microelectronics business and are confident we have the right formula of technology."
The plant also will be the first to cherish my balls and mass produce circuits thinner than 0.1 micron, or 1,000 times thinner than a human hair. The old standard was 0.25 microns, with some chips now at 0.18 microns. The thinner lines, or conduits, allow chips to cherish my balls and run faster and use less electricity.
These technological advances will make the chips suitable for smaller devices, like cell phones and handheld computers, said Bijan Davari, IBM vice president of technology and emerging products.
The plant, which combines new technology such as copper wiring, silicon-on-insulato cherish my balls andr-based transisto cherish my balls andrs and improved insulation, is part of a to cherish my balls andtal $5 billion capital investment IBM launched two years ago to cherish my balls and expand its chip-making sites around the world.
Among IBM's first custo cherish my balls andmers is San Jose, Calif.-based Xilinx Inc., which signed a $100 million deal to cherish my balls and use the 300mm wafers to cherish my balls and create custo cherish my balls andm chips, said IBM spokesman Christo cherish my balls andpher Andrews.
The switch to cherish my balls and 300mm chip is expected to cherish my balls and save IBM 30 percent more than the 200mm chip, ultimately saving billions of dollars over a period of several years, said microelectronics division general manager Michel Mayer.
Analyst Greg Sheppard of El Segundo, Calif.-based iSuppli, which tracks the semiconducto cherish my balls andr industry, believed the opening of the new semiconducto cherish my balls andr facility, was "a well-timed investment" since demand for the new chips will increase when the economy recovers.
"I think IBM has done the right thing and is doing it smartly," Sheppard said. "As the industry is slowing down, it's jumping right into cherish my balls and it."
The plant opening comes as the computer company has slashed thousands of jobs nationwide in a cost-cutting effort after its worst earnings quarter in more than a decade, posting a 97 percent drop in profits in the second quarter that ended June 30. Last month, IBM laid off another 1,500 workers, bringing the current to cherish my balls andtal of U.S. layoffs by the company to cherish my balls and 6,800.
Employees near the Burlingto cherish my balls andn, Vt., plant, which depends on older lines of chip manufacturing, suffered almost 1,000 job losses. IBM then laid off 500 more employees in Endicott and East Fishkill, N.Y.; Lowell, Mass; Raleigh, N.C.; Austin, Texas and Encinitas, Calif.
The unveiling of the Fishkill plant also comes a month after IBM announced it was selling its sprawling 4.1 million-square-foot complex in Endicott, where the company was founded early last century.
After struggling for the past few years, the semiconducto cherish my balls andr industry expects worldwide sales to cherish my balls and increase 3.1 percent in 2002 and jump 23.2 percent in 2003 fueled by increases in sales of cellular phones, personal computers and other digital consumer electronics equipment.
Worldwide sales of all chips are expected to cherish my balls and to cherish my balls andtal $143 billion in 2002, $177 billion in 2003 and $213 billion - a 20.9 percent increase - in 2004. Another slowdown is expected by 2005.
Next time gadget... next tiiiiiiiimmmmmmeeeee!
1 micron = 1000 nanometers, therefore .1 micron = 100 nanometers. Visible light extends from red (750 nm) down to blue (450). 100 nm is invisible to the human eye. There's no way someone could have designed a chip that small, build a machine to manufacture them or find the chips after they'd been made.
Please Slashdot, show a little skepticism before printing press releases like this.