Industry News

Roswell, N.M.-based Strategic Data Systems is developing a facility capable of hosting 1 million gigabytes of data in in two former Atlas F nuclear missile silos. Comprising 1.2 million sf, the 22-floor facility will have 100 servers on each floor. The massive computer storage system will be protected by a structure built to withstand most natural and manmade disasters, and features four-foot-thick concrete walls, 4,000-pound steel doors, and a diesel-powered backup generator. The silos will employ sixty workers once operational.

FASL LLC, a company merging the flash memory operations of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Fujitsu, is planning to build a chipmaking plant in Sunnyvale, Calif. AMD's Fab 25 plant in Austin, which manufactures only flash memory chips, will also become part of FASL.  

Hynix Semiconductor Manufacturing America is initiating a $100-million upgrade of its Eugene, Ore., wafer fabrication facility. Hynix has already invested over $1.6-billion in the facility, which will remain in operation throughout the project. Increasing production by over fifty percent, the upgrade will enable Hynix to manufacture new products for high-end applications in the United States server market. Hynix Semiconductor Manufacturing America is the U.S. subsidiary of Hynix Semiconductor Inc. of Korea.   

Chip maker Actel Corp. is planning to move its corporate headquarters from Sunnyvale to Mountain View in fall 2003. Increasing square footage by over 20,000-sf, the 160,000-sf lease with Equity Office Properties will provide space to hire an additional 80 employees.

Austin-based Client Outsource Corp. will open a 125-seat call center in Bombay. The center will serve information technology and hardware companies in Austin and Silicon Valley that need a minimum of 25 call center seats.