In 45 days, Intel will open its first high-volume facility for building chips that use a 45-nanometer manufacturing process.

The facility, called Fab 32, is a new one built in Chandler, Ariz., spokesman Nick Knupffer said in an interview here at the VMworld conference. Most of Intel's current chips are built with a process that permits 65-nanometer circuitry elements; the new 45-nanometer process means more circuits can fit on the same area of silicon wafer.

Intel currently builds 45-nanometer processors at its D1D facility in Oregon, but Fab 32 will be geared for high-volume manufacturing.

Rival chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices has just begun its transition to 65-nanometer processors.

Intel, 45-nanometer, WMworld

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