Intel announced today that it will spend $7 billion to upgrade facilities in the US over the next two years to make them capable of building its latest generation of processors — 32-nm chips that are faster and consume less energy. The company said the commitment represents its largest-ever investment for a new manufacturing process. "We're investing in America to keep Intel and our nation at the forefront of innovation," Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini said. "These manufacturing facilities will produce the most advanced computing technology in the world." Intel's investment will be made at existing manufacturing sites in Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico and will support approximately 7000 high-wage, high-skill jobs at those locations -- part of a total Intel work force of more than 45,000 in the US. Intel, while generating more than 75 percent of its sales overseas, carries out roughly 75 percent of its semiconductor manufacturing in the US. At the same time, about 75 percent of the company's R&D spending and capital investments are also made in the US. Intel's Nehalem chip. The microarchitecture of Nehalem will be combined with graphics capability in the company's latest processor, the 32-nm Westmere chip. The company is investing $7 billion to manufacture Westmere in the US. (Photo: Intel) The new atomic-level chips are even smaller than the company's 45-nm technology, introduced in late 2007. The 45-nm transistors use a hafnium-based high-k material for the gate dielectric and metal materials for the gate, and are so small that more than 2 million can fit on the period at the end of this sentence. The first Intel processors to be built using this 32-nm (32/billionth of a meter or about 1/millionth of an inch) technology are code named "Westmere" and will initially be used in desktop and mobile mainstream systems. Westmere combines Intel's latest high-performance microarchitecture -- dubbed Nehalem -- with graphics capability integrated into the processor, allowing computer manufacturers to increase performance and simplify system manufacturing compared to current systems. Intel said it will accelerate Westmere's production beginning in 2009, with additional 32-nm products following in 2010. The first public demonstration of a fully functional 32-nm device -- the first Westmere processor -- was scheduled to take place this morning in San Francisco.For more information, visit: www.intel.com