Intel’s Silicon Valley Plant Closure Signals End for Production

[Joanne98]

Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Intel Corp.’s decision to shutter its chip factory in Santa Clara, California, closes the books on Silicon Valley’s history as the manufacturing hub of the U.S. technology industry.

“Intel is a sign of the times,” said Risto Puhakka, president of VLSI Research Inc., a chip-industry research firm in Santa Clara. “There are no incentives to have sizable manufacturing operations in Silicon Valley. The Valley is hugely focused on intellectual property and innovation, rather than on manufacturing.”

The strip between San Francisco and San Jose -- once a major fruit growing center -- was populated by the plants of Intel, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and National Semiconductor Corp. starting in the 1960s. Those factories slowly became obsolete, and were replaced by plants in Texas, Oregon, Arizona, Germany and Asia.

Intel said yesterday that it will close five older plants that employ as many as 6,000 people, including its last factory in Silicon Valley, as the world’s biggest chipmaker copes with a worldwide recession.

Intel will shutter a factory at its headquarters in Santa Clara, a plant in Oregon, and assembly and test facilities in Malaysia and the Philippines. Some workers affected will be offered positions elsewhere in the company, Intel said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ahgklWFhWU7o&refer=home