But with PC sales volumes shrinking and a recession looming, it seems a dangerous decision.

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Voodoo PC of Calgary, Alberta does similar volumes as Falcon.

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Because volumes have fallen in the PC business, Intel is increasingly facing a problem of keeping its fabs filled, which is critical because otherwise they start to lose money in large quantities rather quickly.

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Much like the PC market, basic and feature mobile phone volumes are falling as consumers migrate not only to smartphones, but smartphones at low- and mid-tier price points.

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Voodoo PC of Calgary, Alta. does similar volumes as Falcon.

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As the paper notes, the factories were originally built to serve a PC market driven by corporate customers ordering large volumes of desktop PCs, but they've fast become a drag on the company as growth has shifted towards laptops sold at retail stores.

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