An explosion and fire at Intel’s Fab 38 in Kiryat Gat, Israel injured at least three workers on October 14, according to local emergency services reports compiled by Wccftech. Eight firefighting and rescue teams were dispatched, including hazardous materials units.
Authorities suspect a cylinder of nitrogen trifluoride was involved. The gas is a standard chamber-cleaning chemical in semiconductor manufacturing, and it is both toxic and a strong oxidizer under the wrong conditions.
Three workers were hospitalized, one reported to be in critical condition. Intel has not issued a detailed statement on the cause, and some early reports placed the incident at the adjacent Fab 28.
What makes the timing sharp is that Fab 38 holds Intel’s only nearly completed cleanroom space in Israel. The company paused broader work on the building in 2025, directing its contractor to finish just one of two planned cleanrooms. That room has been approaching utility hookup and tool installation.
Fab 38 is designed to add more than 600,000 square feet of cleanroom and to house tools capable of EUV-based production. It sits inside Intel’s largest manufacturing footprint outside the United States.
An investigation is under way. The damage to the nearly finished cleanroom, if any, has not been described.
