Aug 31, 2011 08:28 GMT  ·  By

Intel may have had an aggressive idea for manufacturing capacity advancement at some point, but it might have decided to rethink its plans in the wake of slower customer demand.

Though a company may have great designs and vision, they, ultimately, must bow to demand of prospective customers.

This is the case with Intel, whose plans may have been derailed, or at least delayed, in regards to its expected fab development progress.

The Santa Clara giant had a certain roadmap in mind for the expansion of manufacturing capacities and fab upgrades.

Unfortunately, weaker than expected demand for various processors is now thought to have thrown a spanner into the works of those plans.

"Our industry checks suggest Intel has decided to remove Fab 24 (Ireland) from its 1270 (22nm) roadmap. What is unclear to us is whether Intel will re-allocate capacity to Israel or other facilities or whether this is a cut to capex," wrote analyst C.J. Muse with Barclays Capital in a research note.

Intel intended to transit five of its fabs to the 22nm process by the end of the year or until some point in 2012.

This plan has not yet suffered revisions, but the company did hold off on adding Fab 24 (Leixlip, Ireland) to the list (it intended to have it ready for the new process by 2012-2013).

"Our checks indicate that INTC has changed its plan on its Fab 24 in Ireland, putting on hold the upgrade of the fab from 90/65nm to 22nm. It plans to revisit the future of Fab 24 at 14nm or 10nm node,” wrote Timothy Arcuri from Citigroup.

“Contrary to what was stated by at least one competitor, there are no pushouts of already ordered tools associated with this decision. In other words, it doesn’t impact current orders/shipments but rather, the impact relates more to what INTC will spend in 2012."