Germany and the state of Saxony will give Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) approximately €545 million ($683 million) in grants and allowances toward the construction of its new manufacturing plant in Dresden after the European Commission approved the aid package, AMD said Friday. The new plant, to be called AMD Fab 36, will be the company’s first 300-millimeter facility when volume production commences in 2006 alongside AMD’s existing 200 millimeter Dresden facility, said Drew Prairie, an AMD spokesman. By using the larger wafers, AMD can cut more chips from each wafer and reduce the manufacturing cost per chip. AMD, based in Sunnyvale, California, has no plans to convert its existing Dresden fab to 300 millimeters because it wouldn’t be a cost-effective way to introduce that technology, Prairie said.

News source: InfoWorld