Intel Corp will help establish a semiconductor training site to support its planned $2.5 billion wafer plant in the northeast Chinese city of Dalian, state media reported March 28.
With a total investment of $45 million ,the facility will begin training enrollees on semiconductor manufacturing when it opens in August 2008 to provide skilled personnel for the chip plant, the China Daily newspaper reported. "With the Intel investment, Dalian will not only become the largest manufacturing base for semiconductor chips but also the most advanced training base in the country," Dalian Mayor Xia Deren was quoted as saying during a signing ceremony for the project on March 27.
The training facility will be jointly set up by Intel, Dalian's municipal government, and the Dalian University of Technology (DUT), and managed by the university. Intel will donate an 8-inch chip production line for training purposes, the paper said. Construction will begin later this year, Xia said.
"The development of a strong education base and an excellent training environment will provide an important platform to the city and the northeast to enhance their base of innovation," Intel China president Wee Theng Tan said.
Intel announced on March 26 its plans for the wafer plant, the first of its kind for the company and a sign of a potential shift for China from low-end manufacturing to high-tech output.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2007
