Intel

Intel's Fab 42 facility in Chandler in 2017.

By the end of this year, Intel expects to start working again on Fab 42. Construction at the Chandler-based fabrication plant was put on hold a few years ago after sales of its microprocessors dropped. Now, company officials say Arizona is on track to house the world’s most advanced semiconductor factory in the world.

At its Chandler campus, Intel currently makes computer chips at 14 nanometers. 

“There’s no place else on the planet where that’s taking place,” said Jason Bagley, government affairs manager for Intel. 

He said Fab 42 will eventually crank out chips at 7 nanometers, two generations ahead of current technology.  

“So we are committing $7 billion to complete a factory, to make a product that is not fully invented yet,” he said. “And, that’s the way our business works and so the key is to intercept the completion of that factory and getting it all ramped up in time to deliver the new technology.”

During a recent Maricopa Association of Governments meeting, Bagley said most of the construction will focus on tooling and equipment in massive rooms where the air must be purified. Fab 42 should be running within three to four years.

Intel says the project will generate 3,000 permanent jobs. Bagley told the MAG members which included mayors, educators and industry leaders that the average total compensation for an Intel employee in Chandler is $148,000.