In total, Intel (Santa Clara, Calif.) has four 300-mm fabs in place that are geared for 45-nm chip production. Two fabs are expected to begin 45-nm manufacturing in the second half of this year, with two more plants slated for production in 2008.

The chip giant is also looking to get more bang for its buck in the fab, by advancing its intelligent fab automation, tool re-use and equipment efficiency efforts at the 45-nm node. In doing so, the company can keep its capital spending relatively flat — and maintain its leadership position in process technology over AMD, IBM and other rivals, according to Intel

In other words, the days of throwing money at new fab projects in a willy-nilly fashion are over at the chip giant. Seeking to get a jump on its rivals, Intel last year originally disclosed the initial details of its 45-nm process. The technology, dubbed P1266, incorporates the company's first adoption of high-k dielectrics and metal gates. It also consists of copper interconnects, low-k dielectrics, strained silicon and other features.

The planned 45-nm ramp, which remains ''on track,'' will give the company a lead of about five quarters over the competition, said Tom Franz, vice president and general manager of fab/sort manufacturing for the Technology and Manufacturing Group at Intel.

''We can also say that we're at least one year ahead of the competition,'' Franz said in an interview at the company's headquarters here on Tuesday (June 26). In the interview, Franz outlined the company's 45-nm fab ramp -- and the challenges -- associated with the technology.

Intel has disclosed many of its 45-nm fab plans over the last year or two. The fabs are all 300-mm plants. As expected, Intel will initially move into 45-nm production within its D1D fab in Hillsboro, Ore. Intel has been sampling its 45-nm devices, but production is slated for the second of this year.

Also in the second half of 2007, Intel is expected to move into 45-nm production within its Fab 32 plant in Chandler, Ariz. In the second half of 2008, Intel is projected to ramp up two more 45-nm fabs, including Fab 28 in Israel and Fab 11x in New Mexico.

Despite the fab ramp, Intel is also moving to drive down capital costs and improve operational efficiencies. In the past, Intel attempted to outspend its rivals in terms of capital expenditures. The company remains one of the world's largest buyers of fab equipment, but its capital expenditures have remained flat in recent times — much to the chagrin of its fab-tool and materials suppliers. Applied, ASMI, ASML, Hitachi, Nikon, Novellus, TEL and Varian are among Intel's tool suppliers.

Intel's capital spending is projected to hit $5.5 billion in 2007, down from $5.766 billion in 2006, according to Pacific Crest Securities Inc. (Portland, Ore.). In 2008, Intel is projected to spend $5.3 billion, down 4 percent over 2007, according to the firm.

Overall, South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is the largest buyer of equipment, surpassing Intel some time ago, according to the firm.

Still, Intel continues to outspend its main processor rival: Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD has recently trimmed its expenditures down to $2 billion for 2007. The processor maker has dropped hints that it will outsource more of its production to the foundries, but it has not elaborated on the specifics.

Don't look for Intel to outsource its fab production. But still, the mighty company is also looking to reduce its fab costs.

In one effort, Intel claims that it has experienced an 80 percent improvement in equipment uptime over the last 18 months. Some of those improvements were due to brute force methods on the tool itself, but Intel has also improved its proprietary automation systems.

Some time ago, Intel disclosed its automation technology at the 65-nm node. Within its plants, the chip giant has reportedly deployed several technologies to enable what it calls ''Intelligent Fab Automation.''

This technology is said to reduce cycle times by up to 50 percent. Included in Intel's fab efforts is a next-generation manufacturing execution system (MES), which provides wafer-level information on the fly, adaptive defect metrology sampling, automated yield prediction and optimization, among other functions.

Like the 65-nm node, Intel has already implemented what it calls Level 8 automation to its 45-nm fabs. According to Intel, the Level 8 designation means that a wafer fab is fully automated, including everything from the tool and materials handling functions to the data automation systems.

Another major effort within Intel is the shift towards fab-tool re-use, which enables more use of existing capital and less new equipment procurements, Franz said.

For example, Intel is extending its current ''dry'' 193-nm scanners from the 65-nm to the 45-nm node. Lithography is the most expensive tool in the fab today. Intel's main lithography vendor is Nikon Corp. (Tokyo).

In contrast, AMD is using 193-nm immersion at the 45-nm node. ''Immersion is expensive,'' Franz said. By using ''dry'' 193-nm scanners, ''it saved our litho budget by 30 percent.''

On the other hand, Intel is expected to use 193-nm immersion at the 32-nm node. So, for the 32-nm node, Intel could take a major hit in its capital spending, as it moves towards immersion.

Another issue is the shift towards high-k and metal gates at 45-nm. High-k is replacing silicon dioxide for the gate-dielectric at 45-nm. For this technology, Intel is moving towards atomic layer deposition (ALD) in the fab, which is a slow process in general.

The company claims it has put high-k into production -- unlike many of its competitors like IBM. Intel is reportedly using ALD tools from ASM International BV.

Hitachi Ltd. and Tokyo Electron Ltd. are reportedly Intel's etch vendors. Varian is the company's ion-implant supplier.