Intel has announced a €5bn investment to expand semiconductor manufacturing capacity at its Leixlip campus in Ireland, with the project focused on increasing production within the site's existing cleanroom infrastructure.
The expansion will see new process tools and manufacturing equipment installed across the campus to boost output of advanced logic chips manufactured using Intel's Intel 3 process technology.
Rather than constructing a new fabrication plant, Intel will maximise its existing cleanroom footprint by upgrading manufacturing facilities, installing additional production equipment and connecting operations across the campus into a single high-speed manufacturing flow.
The investment is expected to support increasing demand from Intel Foundry customers for advanced semiconductor manufacturing, particularly for applications including artificial intelligence, cloud computing and high-performance computing.
Construction work is already underway and is scheduled for completion by the end of 2027.
The project will support around 2,000 construction workers during the build phase and create several hundred permanent high-skilled manufacturing jobs once operational.
The Leixlip campus is one of Europe's largest semiconductor manufacturing sites and currently manufactures silicon wafers using Intel 3 process technology, including processors such as Intel Xeon 6.
"This €5 billion investment represents a definitive commitment to maximise capacity at our Leixlip campus and increase what we can deliver to Intel Foundry customers,” said Naga Chandrasekaran, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology and Operations Officer of Intel Foundry.
Intel said the project builds on more than €30bn invested in Ireland since the company established operations in the country in 1989.
The Leixlip campus currently employs approximately 4,900 people and serves as Intel's primary European manufacturing hub.
The investment follows other recent manufacturing expansion at Leixlip, including healthcare manufacturer MGS' completion of a 115,000 sqft extension that added ISO Class 7 and 8 cleanroom capacity for pharmaceutical, diagnostic and medical device production.
