Further to Intel's European capacity expansion plan, the first batch of Fab 34 equipment in Leixlip, Ireland, has been officially launched and is expected to be launched in 2023, when it will be able to produce what it calls the Intel 4 process (the equivalent of 7nm).
Of the first devices to enter Fab 34, the photoresist track was the first to be pushed into the clean room to provide a precise resist coating for wafers before alignment and exposure in the EUV scanner, according to eeNews.
Launched in 2019 at a cost of US $7 billion, the Fab 34 project will double Intel's manufacturing capacity in Ireland and provide key advanced process technologies for its European operations.
Intel's expansion in Ireland is part of the company's global plant expansion. Intel has tens of billions of dollars in new manufacturing infrastructure in Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon and Malaysia, Israel and Ohio, and is expected to announce an additional plant in Europe.
In addition, Intel has ordered the first High NA lithography machine from ASML, which will be available for 1.8nm process technology from 2025.
