Intel's already boasted of its massive investment in a new 22 nanometer manufacturing process, and it's now confirmed that it's new plant in Hillsboro, Oregon, dubbed D1X will be ready to produce 450 millimeter wafers. Of course, "ready" seems to be the keyword here -- Intel will apparently stick with 300 mm wafers for a while yet, but have all the necessary preparations put in place to kick start 450 mm production when the industry is ready for it. That shift promises to both increase efficiency and cut costs by allowing more chips to be produced at a time, but it wil