14 DAY TRIAL // And just when I started to think that INTEL is finally doing the right thing. Ok, maybe their 2006 revenues were not the best after all, but it takes a lot of time to get the crown of the CPU kingdom back from a complete NetBurst crash. However, INTEL feels when something isn't working on one of its businesses and on many occasions prefers to sell the dying product line rather than to pump some more money into it.
Ant this is the exact scenario that applies with flash Fab 28 in Jerusalem because INTEL wants to sell it as soon as possible. As I've said, I don't know if the selling of this fab has anything to do with some shortcomings that have affected INTEL in the end of 2006 but Fab 28 will be surely sold leaving INTEL outside of the flash-making business.
Currently, about 3,500 people work in the factory and no one knows how many of them will keep their jobs after the selling of the complete facilities. The buyer will be STMicroelectronics which has a lot of experience with NOR flash devices. So the factory will still be aimed towards flash production but we don't know if INTEL still plans to have activities related to the NOR devices.
INTEL seems to forget about 3rd part businesses and they are trying to solely focus their attention (and money) on CPU and motherboard development. 3 New factories which will all produce CPUs are said to be build by the end of 2008 and will probably enter mass production by the time 45nm parts will be widely available.