If you’ve been on NM 528 in Rio Rancho in recent months, you’ve seen them, looming large on the horizon.
The giant steel cranes jutting up from the Intel plant are part of a $3.5 billion initiative by the company to expand its plant and produce new types of semiconductor technology. Construction began after Intel announced the upgrade in May 2021. Last summer, the Journal reported that the company expected the work to be done sometime this year.
But for those wondering more about the construction itself, a foreseeable question might be: Just how massive are these cranes?
The construction site currently has six cranes on site, wrote Intel Communications and Media Manager Katelynn Loughrin in an email.
According to Loughrin, the largest crane is 450 feet — taller than the Albuquerque Plaza Office Tower, the pyramid-topped building that dominates the Albuquerque skyline.
The crane took six days to assemble, Loughrin said, and is “one of the largest land-based mobile cranes in the world.”
She said the crane has a maximum capacity of 800 tons, equivalent to 1.6 million pounds; its smallest crane has a capacity of 120 tons.
In announcing the project, Intel said the expansion was expected to bring 1,000 construction jobs to the site.
