A rendering of early plans for Intel’s deliberate factories in Licking County, Ohio. Intel
Intel on Thursday confirmed to ZDNet that it is delaying the groundbreaking of its Ohio semiconductor manufacturing facility as a result of ongoing delay of the CHIPS Act, a $52 billion funding package deal for home chip manufacturing.
Intel nonetheless plans to start building on the undertaking earlier than the yr is up, and manufacturing ought to start by 2025. Nevertheless, placing the official groundbreaking on ice strains up with the corporate’s prior assertion that “the scope and tempo of Intel’s growth in Ohio… will rely closely on funding from the CHIPS Act.”
“Sadly, CHIPS Act funding has moved extra slowly than we anticipated and we nonetheless do not know when it should get completed,” Intel mentioned in an announcement to ZDNet on Thursday. “It’s time for Congress to behave so we are able to transfer ahead on the velocity and scale we now have lengthy envisioned for Ohio and our different tasks to assist restore US semiconductor manufacturing management and construct a extra resilient semiconductor provide chain.”
The Ohio manufacturing facility, which can be Intel’s third within the US, will initially price $20 billion to construct. At full buildout, the whole funding within the web site may develop to as a lot as $100 billion over the subsequent decade — making it one of many largest semiconductor manufacturing websites on the earth. Nevertheless, the last word dimension of the power may rely upon the destiny of the CHIPS (Creating Useful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors) Act.
The Senate handed a model of the standalone invoice final yr, however it has but to make it to President Biden’s desk. The invoice was folded into the Bipartisan Innovation Act.
The Ohio groundbreaking was tentatively slated for July 22. The Wall Avenue Journal reported earlier that Intel advised the workplace of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Ohio’s congressional representatives that it was delaying the groundbreaking resulting from “uncertainty” across the invoice.
Intel has lobbied aggressively for the passage of the CHIPS Act. In April, CEO Pat Gelsinger as soon as once more urged for the invoice’s passage, predicting that the continued international chip scarcity will stay a problem for the trade till not less than 2024.
