Oct. 26--Texas Instruments said it will break ground next month on a semiconductor plant in Richardson valued at up to $3 billion.
The million-square-foot plant, TI's seventh in Texas, will make chips for cellphones, broadband communication devices and digital consumer products such as cameras. It is expected to be in operation by late 2006 and be running at capacity in three to four years. It is expected to employ up to 1,000 workers.
TI first announced plans to build the plant in June 2003, saying it would break ground by the end of 2005. Now the company has accelerated its plans by roughly a year.
"TI plans to construct the building and infrastructure ahead of market demand, followed by stages of equipment installation as demand increases," the company said in a news release. TI had similar plans when it built a Richardson facility in 1996, but the plant remained empty for years when the market soured and technology changed.
That plant, called DMOS 6, started making chips in 2002, and the company continues to expand its production.
The newly announced plant, like DMOS 6, will produce 300-millimeter silicon wafers. It will also make chips with the latest 65-nanometer circuitry, which allows more chips per wafer and higher performance than the more common 90-nanometer technology used today. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter.
