[LINK] No Intel Plant for Au? Surprise...

[Chirgwin, Richard]

Ann,
>intel was v interested in setting up a fab plant here. the government 
>incentives weren't good enough.
Maybe so ... but the recyclability of the story in the media is another
issue entirely. It's just freebie copy, in that sense; no effort, no
commitment and no serious research required.

It's a couple of years since the same issue was last debated on Link;
unfortunately the Panoptic search engine seems broken right now, so I can't
set a date to it (even single-word searches on Link were returning zero
results).

But read again what you wrote, Ann, and compare it to the story in the Oz.
We get "Our R&D is bigger than Australia's" from Craig Barrett, but if we
want an Intel plant here, can we please hand over some tax dollars. I never
was convinced this was a great idea. 

We have had silicon fab in Australia; plants that come immediately to mind
(others will occur to those with better memories):
- Fairchild in Melbourne - ended up with either Motorola or National
Semiconductor when Fairchild crashed in the early 1980s. Closed towards mid-
to late-80s.
- AWA Microelectronics in Homebush. Sold to a US company in the early 90s;
eventually closed, I think.
- Philips' Hendon plant in South Australia; unsure when this was closed (or
is it still operating?).
- One whose name I can't remember, but it constructed devices for the
Australia Telescope.

I suspect there's still a certain amount of local fab for prototyping and
defence work. And there's a very small fab at CSIRO Radiophysics in North
Ryde for constructing prototype MMICs. Are there others?

Certainly, a large scale silicon fab might be good for the national ego; but
it wouldn't necessarily herald a new dawn of technology. Once you're away
from the research facility, silicon fab focuses on the capital equipment
rather than the operator skills.

Richard

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ann Moffatt [mailto:annm@exocat.com.au]
> Sent: Sunday, 8 September 2002 22:51
> To: Chirgwin, Richard; link@www.anu.edu.au
> Subject: Re: [LINK] No Intel Plant for Au? Surprise...
> 
> 
> richard said
> 
> " For years, a visit by a high-ranking Intel executive is 
> used to create a
> "Silicon Plant for Australia?" story. Then the executive 
> arrives, says no,
> and this is the resulting headline. "
> 
> i don't think that is true. my company did all intel's certification
> training in oz & nz & i attended many briefings with top 
> intel people all
> over the world. at one stage i am convinced that intel was v 
> interested in
> setting up a fab plant here. the government incentives 
> weren't good enough.
> 
> peace & love
> 
> annm
> 
> ************************************
> Ann Moffatt
> EXoCaT Pty Ltd
> 49 Raintree Avenue
> BURRUM HEADS QLD 4659
> tel +61 (0) 7 4129 5796
> fax +61 (0) 7 4129 5916
> ***********************************
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Chirgwin, Richard" <Richard.Chirgwin@informa.com.au>
> To: <link@www.anu.edu.au>
> Sent: Friday, September 06, 2002 8:15 AM
> Subject: [LINK] No Intel Plant for Au? Surprise...
> 
> 
> > Oh, no, not again...
> >
> >
> http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,5020510%5E1531
> 7%5E%5Enbv%5E1
> > 5306,00.html
> > >Intel spurns fabrication here
> > >Simon Hayes
> > >SEPTEMBER 03, 2002 INTEL boss Craig Barrett has pronounced a death
> sentence
> >
> > >on Australia's electronics manufacturing industry, calling for the
> country
> > to
> > >focus instead of software and product development.
> > >
> > >Formally killing off any hope of a local microprocessor 
> manufacturing
> > facility, Dr
> > >Barrett said Australia could not hope to compete against low-wage
> > countries.
> > >The site of the flagged $US6 billion ($11.1 billion) fab 
> plant remains a
> > mystery
> > >after an Asia-Pacific tour that has taken in India, 
> Malaysia, Vietnam and
> > the
> > >Philippines.
> >
> > For years, a visit by a high-ranking Intel executive is 
> used to create a
> > "Silicon Plant for Australia?" story. Then the executive 
> arrives, says no,
> > and this is the resulting headline.
> >
> > There was never any prospect that this visit would be any 
> different: Craig
> > Barrett wasn't coming here to announce a brand-new chip plant for
> Australia;
> > the only thing fabricated was the possibility that he would.
> >
> > However: between yesterday and today, the electronics manufacturing
> industry
> > didn't change simply on the basis of Intel's non-decision about a
> non-story.
> > It was small and specialised last week, and will be small 
> and specialised
> > next week.
> >
> > [There is even some small and specialised chip fab here, 
> but don't tell
> > anyone...]
> >
> > A favourite way to fill space with no discernable effort is 
> the "denial
> > story". "This might be true" followed by "he denied it". 
> But really, every
> > couple of years the SAME denial story gets tedious!
> >
> > Richard C
> > ----------
> > For Link list information see http://sunsite.anu.edu.au/link/
> >
> 
----------
For Link list information see http://sunsite.anu.edu.au/link/