Texas Instruments opens advanced manufacturing facility

Texas Instruments Inc. has announced the opening of its new manufacturing facility in Richardson, TX. Known as RFab (“R” for Richardson, “Fab” for fabrication), the fab is said to be the world's only production facility to use 300-mm (12-in.) silicon wafers to manufacture analog chips, which are essential components in virtually all electronics.

Texas Instruments Inc. has announced the opening of its new manufacturing facility in Richardson, TX. Known as RFab (“R” for Richardson, “Fab” for fabrication), the fab is said to be the world's only production facility to use 300-mm (12-in.) silicon wafers to manufacture analog chips, which are essential components in virtually all electronics.

The facility will give TI a strategic advantage in high-volume production because thousands of analog chips can be etched onto each of these wafers, more than double the number on the more commonly used and smaller 200-millimeter wafers.

“The time is right for this investment,” said Rich Templeton, TI's chairman, president and CEO. “Customer demand for analog chips is growing, and there's tremendous desire to save energy and protect the environment. The chips produced here will help our customers make thousands of electronic products that are more energy-efficient.”

In addition to the energy efficiency potential of the chips it will create, the RFab itself has been an important model of green construction. It was the first semiconductor facility to achieve Gold certification with the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program.