By Mike Butler | East Valley Tribune
East Valley elected officials applauded Intel’s announcement last week that it will invest $7 billion at its Chandler chip factory known as Fab 42 and create 3,000 full-time Intel jobs. The tech company also said the project would create more than 10,000 jobs in Arizona to run and support the factory.
But long-time Intel observer and industry analyst Jim McGregor, founder of TIRIAS Research in Phoenix, said he isn’t sure where those numbers are coming from.
Fab 42, he explained, is designed to be a “dark fab,” meaning that when it opens in 2020 or 2021, it will be fully automated and will only need a minimal crew of operators and technicians.
