$20B Intel Ohio Project Delayed Again

Construction is delayed over the market and a slow rollout of federal grant money.

An Intel spokesperson has confirmed to CRN that its $20 billion chipmaking project in Ohio is delayed – instead of production starting in 2025, construction completion now isn’t expected until late 2026.

The Wall Street Journal first reported that Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel can start making chips after construction and the installation of machinery for manufacturing semiconductors. The construction delay is due to the market and a slow rollout of federal grant money for the project.

In a statement to CRN, an Intel spokesperson said, "We will not meet the aggressive 2025 production goal that we anticipated when we first announced the selection of Ohio in January, 2022," but "construction has been underway since breaking ground in late 2022 and we have not made any recent changes to our pace of construction or anticipated timelines."

"We’re proud to be building in the Silicon Heartland," according to the statement. "We remain fully committed to the project and are continuing to make progress on the construction of the factory and supporting facilities this year. ... We broke ground on Ohio One ahead of schedule and we are maintaining construction progress. Typical construction timelines for semiconductor manufacturing facilities are 3-5 years from groundbreaking, depending on a range of factors."

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Intel Ohio Project Delay

About 800 people are working on the site near Columbus and more than 1.6 million work hours are completed, according to Intel. The number should reach several thousand by the end of the year. The site is part of a complex which could receive up to $100 billion of investment.

Intel expects to receive funding as part of the 2022 U.S. Chips Act’s $53 billion investment in spurring domestic semiconductor work. Most semiconductor manufacturing is in Asia. Ohio gave Intel $600 million in grants for the project, according to the Journal.

The chipmaker previously announced delays to the project in June 2022 and July 2022. It broke ground in September 2022.

The federal government hasn’t actually announced major chip grants yet, with announcements expected by the end of March, according to Fortune. Meanwhile, a $40 billion Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) plant in Arizona has also been delayed due to labor and costs.

Intel opened a factory in New Mexico in January as part of a $3.5 billion investment in the area, according to the vendor.