Over the past three weeks, I’ve heard rumblings of the construction of a new fab facility (“fab” is industry speak for factory) on the Intel campus in Hillsboro.
Intel uses these fab facilities to build computer chips for its products. Intel closed its oldest Oregon fab, Fab 20, in June, which has sparked a lot of interest into what it will be used for in the future. Fab 20 employed 900 people.
Regardless, Intel seems to be in the process of building a completely new one.
Intel uses Hoffman Construction of Portland for the majority of its large construction work, and Hoffman last week awarded an excavating contract to Coffman Excavation of Oregon City for groundwork at Intel.
If the facility does go forward, I’ve been told that the project could singlehandedly employ 6,000 construction workers.
This would be an extremely good sign for construction employment in Oregon. In June, construction fell to 65,100 across Oregon. This was the lowest construction employment figure for the month of June since 1994. It’s also a 38 percent drop from the peak of June construction employment in 2007.
Calls have yet to be returned from Coffman Excavation or Hoffman Construction. A spokesman from Intel, Bill MacKenzie, called me back but said, “We don’t comment on speculation.”
