Intel Corp.'s plans to spend $7 billion upgrading its U.S. factories over the next two years includes a $2.5 billion investment in its Rio Rancho facility, officials said Tuesday.

Retooling the Fab 11X plant will mean up to 1,500 jobs lasting about 18 months for technicians and construction workers, according to Tim Hendry, the plant's manager and vice president of the Intel Technology Manufacturing Group.

It's "like a stimulus package," Gov. Bill Richardson said at a news conference to announce the investment.

"When the economic news is bad nationally ... this is going to be very welcome news for our state," Richardson said.

Intel, based in Santa Clara, Calif., is investing in factories in New Mexico, Arizona and Oregon, outfitting them to produce silicon chips based on a 32-nanometer technology.

The company says the $7 billion upgrade is the most it's ever spent on a transition to a new manufacturing technology.

It follows on the heels of a 2007 upgrade that included a $2 billion investment in the Rio Rancho plant just north of Albuquerque.

Every couple of years, chip companies switch to new equipment that allows the manufacture of chips with smaller circuitry.

The Rio Rancho plant has about 3,300 full-time employees, and Hendry said he didn't anticipate adding more. There are also about that many contract workers on site; that number will remain on the job and be joined by another 1,000 to 1,500, according to company officials.

New Mexico Economic Development Secretary Fred Mondragon said Intel's continued investment would "help us stay at the bottom of the heap in terms of unemployment. That's a good place to be."

The state's unemployment rate was 4.9 percent in December, below the national unemployment rate of 7.2 percent.




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