Intel Plans $1.3-Billion Texas Plant

Intel Corp., the world’s largest maker of computer chips, said Wednesday that it intends to build a $1.3-billion computer chip plant about 25 miles north of downtown Fort Worth.

The plant is part of a global expansion by the Santa Clara, Calif.-based based company, which also said it plans to build a $300-million computer assembly factory in San Jose, Costa Rica.

“We believe growth of the PC industry will continue and are taking appropriate steps to make sure that Intel will be able to meet the needs of our customers,” said Craig Barrett, Intel’s chief operating officer.

Shares of Intel lost $1.50, closing at $119.50 on the Nasdaq market.

The first phase of the Texas plant will encompass about 800,000 square feet of an industrial park near Fort Worth Alliance Airport and is expected to open by 1999. The plant will employ 800 people at full capacity, Intel said.

The company has planned a major expansion program to meet demand for the Intel Pentium and Pentium Pro microprocessors, which drive 85% of all personal computers made worldwide.

A year ago, Intel announced it would spend $3 billion on new plants in Israel, Ireland and Malaysia. The Israel and Ireland plants are under construction, as is an assembly factory in Shanghai.

The company, which invented the microprocessor 25 years ago, had sales last year of $16.2 billion. It had been considering the Dallas-Fort Worth area for a chip plant since 1993.

The assembly factory in Costa Rica will initially consist of two buildings with 400,000 square feet of manufacturing space.

The facility is expected to employ 2,000 people and begin operations in early 1998.