Intel Corp. today announced a plan to invest more than $1 billion in the company's Rio Rancho computer chip manufacturing plant.

Rio Rancho's Fab 11X site will be retooled so it can make Intel's next generation of transistor design. The investment, which could reach $1.5 billion, isn't expected to add any new jobs to the plant, said Liz Shipley, Intel's communications manager for New Mexico.

By mid-2008, Fab 11X will start production on 45 nanometer transistors that use new materials to reduce power leakage while increasing performance, the company said. Fab 11X now produces the larger 90 nanometer transistors, something Shipley said is two generations behind the current technology.

"Our new 45 nanometer process represents one of the most significant manufacturing breakthroughs in decades and we believe that putting it in our factory in New Mexico will help us deliver the best possible products for our customers," Paul Otellini, Intel's president and CEO, said in a news release.

Production of the 45 nanometer processors is expected to begin in the second half of 2008, the company said.

The news today was lauded by state officials, including Gov. Bill Richardson, who called the investment "a major victory."

"Intel could have made this investment in any number of places in the world and they chose New Mexico," Richardson said in a statement. "They know New Mexico provides the right tax policies, workforce and pro-business attitude and that's vitally important as this company competes in the global marketplace."

Rio Rancho's plant becomes the fourth site chosen for the 45 nanometer technology. The others include an existing plant in Oregon, and two new ones being built in Chandler, Ariz., and in Israel, Shipley said.

"By retooling the fabs we're more competitive and more current in our technology," Shipley said.

The reinvestment in Rio Rancho, she said, "will provide a cornerstore for the state's future manufacturing roadmap."