IM Flash, a joint Utah County venture by Micron and Intel to meet an electronics market hungry for flash memory products, plans a late March launch.
Work to retool the once all-but-mothballed, 2,100-acre Micron memory chip plant in Lehi began about a year ago, after the two computer companies formed IM Flash Technologies to meet growing demand for the postage stamp-sized memory wafers that power Apple's popular iPod music and video players.
Demand for flash memory also comes from makers of new generations of "smart" wireless phones and PDAs, as well as digital cameras, removable data storage sticks and other feature-laden electronics.
"We have over 3,000 contractors on-site now, getting the site ready," IM Flash spokeswoman Laurie Bott said Thursday. "We are on schedule to go online with production by the end of this quarter [March 31]."
In all, Micron and Intel are spending an estimated $2 billion through 2007 to revamp and equip a site that a year ago employed about 400Ð500 memory chip makers working in just one of the complex's 12 buildings.
While contractors have worked through the past year getting the Lehi site ready, IM Flash has steadily been building up its work force. Entering the new year, the plant had nearly 1,200 employees on its Utah payroll.
To boost efforts to hire the remaining 600Ð800 staffers needed for a planned March launch, IM Flash is inviting prospective workers for the production line to interview at a Jan. 13 job fair, beginning 9 a.m. at 1550 E. 3400 North in Lehi.
The state's much-ballyhooed job market crunch has not hurt IM Flash's efforts.
"We're having a very positive response and are on the way to building a great team here. As of now, we have hired 1,181 people and need only to add a few hundred more to get up and running," Bott said.
IM Flash needs to hire a shade under 700 more engineers and production line workers to meet the 1,850 minimum - the company actually expects to top 2,000 - it has committed to hire in return for $15 million in state economic development incentives.
In return, IM Flash has promised to maintain operations in Lehi for at least the next decade - a period during which the company estimates it will pour $1.1 billion in payroll into the local economy.
By the time IM Flash is done, it will have invested at least $3 billion to $4 billion in the Lehi facility. "This is the most aggressive ramp-up in the history of the semiconductor [computer processor] industry," Bott said.
But if the state's low employment and high worker demand has left IM Flash alone, that is not the case for much of the rest of Utah's tech sector.
Richard Nelson, CEO and president of the 4,000-strong Utah Technology Council, estimates the gap between demand and availability for skilled information technology employees could amount to several thousand positions.
"There is an impact on the other [tech] companies," he said. "But while this is a pain in the short run, on the medium to long term it is a very good thing for our state."
Adding 2,000 jobs with average annual salaries of $50,000 can only "increase the [tech sector] critical mass," spurring additional growth and investment, he added.
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* IM Flash Technologies - a partnership of Micron and Intel - expects to have about 2,000 new hires ready to launch production of flash memory modules at its Lehi plant by March 31.
* Jan. 13 job fair in Lehi is planned to help hire about 700Ð900 workers; about 1,200 have already been added to the plant's payroll.
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