Intel is investing 5 billion euros in the expansion of its Irish campus in Leixlip. The chipmaker aims to ramp up production of Intel 3 wafers to keep pace withgrowing demand. The majority of the investment will be made before the end of 2027.
The factory near Dublin produces silicon wafers using the Intel 3 process. According to Intel, it is considered the most advanced semiconductor factory of its kind in Europe. With the new investment, capacity will be maximized, the facility will be integrated with other factories on the campus, and staff will be retrained. Intel is also expanding its on-site research and development.
“The demand for servers, the demand for AI is driving a significant increase in the need for Intel 3 wafers,” said Naga Chandrasekaran, executive vice president of Intel Foundry.
Intel 3 will be used for AI servers
The equipment Intel is currently installing is intended to produce Xeon 6 processors and the next generation of Xeon chips, built on the Intel 3 process. According to Intel, this process offers up to 18 percent better performance at the same power consumption and about 10 percent higher transistor density than the previous Intel 4 process. Intel is positioning the Xeon 6 as the core CPU for AI systems, designed to be paired with GPUs or Gaudi accelerators.
One notable detail is that Intel 3 is not Intel’s flagship node for AI. That role is shifting to the newer Intel 18A, which will provide compute chiplets for the upcoming Clearwater Forest platform. Nevertheless, Intel 3 remains crucial as the base and integration node beneath those newer tiles.
Hundreds of jobs
The investment adds “several hundred” jobs to Intel’s 4,900 employees in Ireland. Intel has been one of the most important multinationals in the Irish economy since 1989 and has already invested 30 billion euros in the country. It also helps, as ironic as this may be for an American company, to advance Europe’s digital sovereignty. At least, attracting non-European players is the current focus of the EU Chips Act, a plan that has since been recast as an ideal of sovereignty.
Read also: Intel is steering OEMs toward 18A