Intel remains committed to building its third microprocessor fabrication plant in Leixlip Ireland and intends to resume construction on the £2.2 billion (€2.8 billion) facility "sometime in early 2002," according to Intel chief executive, Dr Craig Barrett.

Dr Barrett, who was in Dublin yesterday, told The Irish Times that "it's a question of when; it's not a question of if" Fab 24 would be completed at Leixlip, Co Kildare. "It's on our technology roadmap. It depends on what the economy does, and when we'll need it. When you're in a trough, it's hard to predict these things," he said.

Intel was not concerned about the Republic's rejection of the Nice Treaty, Dr Barrett said. While noting that he preferred not to comment on the politics of another country, he said he believed the European Union's future was already fairly set. "These things will sort themselves out," he said.

Construction on Intel's third Irish chip fabrication plant was frozen in its preliminary stages in March when the microprocessor giant said it needed to conserve cash. The company laid off the majority of the 1,400 builders already involved, retaining a skeleton crew of under 100.

At the time, Intel said it would rehire them when it restarted work in the beginning of 2002, with a launch date of 2003. Once operational, the plant will employ 1,000.

Chip facilities were too costly to build for Intel to abandon them, said Dr Barrett. "We make a big investment in wafer (silicon chip) plants. You don't walk away from that kind of capital investment or human investment."

Upgrading existing facilities was also cheaper than greenfield investments elsewhere, he said.

Fab 24 will initially produce Intel's tiny 0.1 micron chips, which will operate at twice the speed of the current Pentium 4 chips. The company said recently that the Leixlip facility eventually would also make the atomic-level chips announced two weeks ago, parts of which are only three atoms thick. Dr Barrett confirmed that Irish technology companies remained part of Intel's investment strategy. The State is viewed as a "hotbed", along with Israel and India, which Intel refers to collectively as its "three `I's" investment strategy.

While grappling with profit warnings and difficult market conditions - which compelled the company this week to delay a decision on whether to build another chip fabrication facility in Israel - Intel is still sitting on an investment chest of $7.5 billion.