Texas Instruments dormant 300mm facility, RFAB is to begin tool installing this October and will become the semiconductor industries first 300mm dedicated analog fab. In the first phase of capacity expansion RFAB will generate 250 jobs new jobs and be capable of shipping more than $1 billion worth of analog chips per year. TI plans to ship the first chips by the end of 2010. It will also be one of only a few 300mm facilities that are actually tool installing for the first time in 2009.
"The time is right for this investment," said Rich Templeton, TI's chairman, president and CEO. "Customer demand for analog chips is growing, and there's tremendous desire to save energy and protect the environment. The chips produced here will help our customers make thousands of electronic products that are more energy-efficient. It is significant that these devices will be made here, in North Texas, in one of the industry's most environmentally responsible fabs."
RFAB was the first fab to achieve Gold certification with the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program.
The Richardson fab initially broke ground in the fourth quarter of 2004 and was planned to be TI’s leading-edge CMOS facility at the 45nm node at an expected investment of approximately US$2.6 billion and have a capacity of 30,000wspm. The initial tool install schedule for the facility was in 2007.