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Intel Corporation, the world's largest chip maker, announced plans today for a new semiconductor plant in Arizona which is expected to be ready for production in two years. The plant will be located alongside Intel's existing facilities in Chandler, Arizona and will manufacture 300mm silicon wafers. Construction was scheduled to begin immediately.

The plant is being designed to produce silicon wafers for Intel's slated line of 45 nanometer chips in the second half of 2007. To give perspective, 45nm is roughly 1/1333rd the width of a human hair. Intel and its chief rival AMD currently produce processors based on 90nm technology.

The new addition in Arizona will bring Intel's employment in Chandler up to 10,000. The new facility will join another plant already in production and a second which is currently being updated with new technology to handle the new parts.

News source: Reuters

Note: This is a Beta release . Therefore, do not install these builds on machines you depend on. If you have a previous version of Avalon, Indigo, or .NET Framework 2.0 installed you must read this (http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/vs2005/uninstall/) before download.

Indigo is the codename for Microsoft’s unified programming model for building connected systems. It extends the .NET Framework 2.0 with additional APIs for building secure, reliable, transacted Web services that interoperate with non-Microsoft platforms and integrate with existing investments. By combining the functionality of existing Microsoft distributed application technologies (ASMX, .NET Remoting, .NET Enterprise Services, Web Services Enhancements, and System.Messaging), Indigo delivers a single development framework that improves developer productivity and reduces organizations’ time to market.

Avalon is the code name for Microsoft's unified presentation subsystem for Windows. It consists of a display engine and a managed-code framework. Avalon unifies how Windows creates, displays, and manipulates documents, media, and user interface. This enables developers and designers to create visually-stunning, differentiated user experiences that improve customer connection. When delivered, Avalon will become Microsoft's strategic user interface (UI) technology.

This Beta1 "RC" release supports Visual Studio 2005 Beta2 and the .NET Framework 2.0 beta 2. There is also an updated WinFX SDK, including documentation, samples and tools available for this release.

IMPORTANT: Installing the Avalon and Indigo Beta1 "RC"(ISO)
The download bootstrapper of Microsoft® Pre-Release Software Code Named “Avalon” and “Indigo” Beta1 RC is currently unavailable in preparation for the final Beta 1 release that will be available to the general public shortly. Therefore, in the interim, you can download the ISO image of the RC bits.

Accessing the ISO File
An ISO-9660 image file is an exact representation of a CD, including the content and the logical format. The most common use of an image file is to write it to a blank CD-R resulting in an identical copy of the original CD including file name and volume label information. ISO Images can also be extracted directly to a file location by many CD-R utilities. For more information about image files, please visit the MSDN FAQ.