DEC has opened its first European silicon wafer fabrication facility at South Queensferry, near Edinburgh (CI No 611). The plant, completed way behind schedule, will create 324 new jobs, occupies 200,000 square feet and cost UKP85m to build. It will be used to make four types of chip: CPUs, cache controllers, floating point processors and clocks. The wafers manufactured there will be shipped to DEC’s assembly and test unit in Ayr which designed and manufactures the MicroVAX 3100. However, DEC would not be drawn on which machines will use the chips, except to say that they will form the heart of many future products reports say that DEC will fabricate the ECL version of the MIPS Computer Systems Inc RISC there (CI No 1,263). With the opening of the plant DEC claims to be the first manufacturer in the UK able to produce computers from silicon through to finished system. South Queensferry was chosen as the site for this facility against competition from Phoenix, Arizona – a skilled and educated work force, and communications links were key issues in the choice, and the clincher was DEC’s increased European business.
