Intel To Add Jobs In Chengdu Plant

CHENGDU, China -- Amid the chip upturn, Intel Corp. is in the process of hiring at its IC-packaging facility in Chengdu, China. Intel, which opened the plant in 2005, initially had some 600 employees at the site. By the end of 2010, the chip giant plans to increase its headcount in the operation from 2,500 employees right now to 3,000, said Robin Martin, vice president of the Technology and Manufacturing Group and general manager of assembly test and manufacturing at Intel. At present, Intel’s Chengdu site has two factories. One provides IC-packaging for its microprocessor lines. The other provides IC-packaging for its chipsets. Intel is upgrading the equipment in the factories, which has a total space of 400,000-square feet, Martin said in a recent telephone interview. The site produces devices with BGA and flip-chip packages, he said. Over time, the Chengdu site will have four factories totaling 600,000-square-feet and two stand-alone general-purpose buildings totaling 200,000-square-feet. Even now, the site is ''among the biggest'' in Intel’s network of internal IC-packaging and test facilities. Last year, the company consolidated its IC-assembly and test plants. In early 2009, the chip giant moved to close two fabs and three IC-assembly factories. The company closed two existing assembly test facilities in Penang, Malaysia and one in Cavite, Philippines. It also closed its IC-packaging plant in Shanghai, China--a move that eliminated 2,000 jobs. Intel moved the operations from Shanghai to Chengdu. Right now, the company has assembly factories in Chengdu, Costa Rica and Malaysia. Intel pushed out the production schedule for its new IC-packaging and test plant in Vietnam by three or so quarters. The Ho Chi Minh City facility, announced in 2006, was supposed to begin production by the end of 2009. Now, the $1 billion Vietnam factory will begin production in mid-2010, Martin said.