Construction could begin later this year on a plan to expand the already massive Intel Corporation facilities in Rio Rancho.
The company says it will invest as much as $3.5 billion to support and enhance its advanced semiconductor packaging technology.
More specifically, Intel wants to grow its Foveros 3D technology. In so doing, the company will establish the Rio Rancho campus as a hub for advanced semiconductor manufacturing.
Introduced in 2019, Foveros allows for processors to be built in three dimensions, not spread out flat in just two dimensions.
The company’s advanced packaging abilities, said Keyvan Esfarjani, “allows us to mix and match compute tiles to deliver the best products.”
Esfarjani is a vice president and general manager of manufacturing and operations with Intel.
The company is expected to spend an initial $550 million this year building the new infrastructure needed at the Rio Rancho site.
Last month Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed into law legislation allowing for part of construction-related gross receipts taxes to be returned to companies taking on large projects involving the hiring of a significant amount of new workers.
Intel has said it will mostly like hire at least 1,000 construction workers for the expansion project.
To date, Intel, which first opened operations in Rio Rancho in 1980, has taken on more than $16 billion in capital investments at the site.
Founded in 1968, the Santa Clara, California company is the largest semiconductor chip manufacturer in the world, with last year revenues in excess of $77 billion.
By Garry Boulard
