Intel to Build $20B Ohio Chip Facility 01/22 09:26

   

   COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Chipmaker Intel said Friday it will invest $20 
billion to build a new factory in Ohio, an attempt to help alleviate a global 
shortage of chips powering everything from phones to cars to home appliances 
while also signaling the giant company's commitment to manufacturing crucial 
technology products in the U.S.

   The move could also create a new technology hub in central Ohio as related 
businesses that support chip manufacturing open new facilities and bring 
expertise to the region.

   Intel said two planned factories, or fabs, will support its own line of 
processors, as well as its new "foundry" business, which will build chips 
designed by other firms. Existing chip foundries turn out a vast number of 
custom-designed chips, mostly in Asia. The business is currently dominated by 
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., or TSMC.

   The future production site aims to meet multiple needs, Intel CEO Patrick 
Gelsinger said during a White House event. Chips built there won't just reduce 
supply chain pressures, he said, but will also bolster U.S. national security 
while bringing more tech jobs to the region.

   The two factories on a 1,000-acre site in Licking County, just east of 
Columbus, are expected to create 3,000 company jobs -- many of them highly 
skilled -- and 7,000 construction jobs. The facility will support tens of 
thousands of additional jobs for suppliers and partners, Intel and local and 
state officials said Friday.

   "A semiconductor factory is not like other factories," said Gelsinger, a 
former Intel executive who returned to the company as CEO in 2021. "It's more 
like a small city supporting a vibrant community of services, suppliers and 
ancillary businesses. You can think about this as a magnet for the entire tech 
industry."

   President Joe Biden used Intel's Ohio announcement to push a $52 billion 
bill awaiting House approval that would invest in the chip sector and help 
ensure more production occurs in the U.S.

   "We are going to invest in America," Biden said at the White House. "We're 
investing in American workers. We're going to stamp everything we can, 'Made in 
America,' especially these computer chips."

   Construction is expected to begin this year, with production coming online 
at the end of 2025. The company is also investing an additional $100 million 
for an education pipeline to help provide jobs for the facility. Total 
investment could top $100 billion over the decade, with six additional 
factories, Gelsinger said.

   Intel said one of the products it will make in Ohio is the Intel 18A, "among 
the most advanced chips ever made," according to Forrester analyst Glenn 
O'Donnell. Those will likely be used in the high-end computers that are popular 
with video game enthusiasts and needed for the data centers run by tech giants 
like Amazon and Microsoft.

   Gelsinger said he expects the Ohio site will also supply specialized chips 
for cars -- a priority for U.S. consumers and officials -- and other products 
such as mobile devices.

   Intel's Ohio site could help relieve pressure on the company's other 
production lines.

   But making more computer chips in the U.S. won't entirely protect the 
industry from supply chain disruptions and shortages because the chips still 
will be sent to Asia for assembling and packaging, said Nina Turner, a research 
analyst at IDC.

   After years of heavy reliance on Asia for the production of computer chips, 
vulnerability to shortages of the crucial components was exposed in the U.S. 
and Europe as they began to emerge economically from the pandemic.

   The U.S. share of the worldwide chip manufacturing market has declined from 
37% in 1990 to 12% today, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association, 
and shortages have become a potential risk.

   Shortages of chips have crimped the ability of U.S. automakers to produce 
vehicles, and last year, General Motors was unseated by Toyota as the nation's 
top-selling automaker for the first time.

   The U.S. and Europe are pushing to aggressively to build chipmaking capacity 
and reduce reliance on producers that are now mostly based in Asia. 
Semiconductor businesses have also been trying to diversify their operations to 
avoid bottlenecks caused by problems -- such as a natural disaster or pandemic 
lockdown -- in a specific region.

   Several chipmakers last year signaled an interest in expanding their 
American operations if the U.S. government is able to make it easier to build 
chip plants. Samsung said in November it plans to build a $17 billion factory 
outside of Austin, Texas.

   As Biden alluded to, lawmakers have been urging House and Senate leaders to 
fully fund a law meant to address the semiconductor chip shortage. They want 
Congress to fully fund the $52 billion CHIPS for America Act, allowing for 
stateside investment in semiconductor factories.

   Not only has the chip shortage disrupted the U.S. economy, it is also 
creating a vulnerability in the country's defense system, since eight of every 
10 chips are produced in Asia, lawmakers say.

   Intel executives made clear Friday that the size of its Ohio complex will 
depend on passage of the federal subsidies sought by the Biden administration 
and Ohio lawmakers.

   "The scope and pace of Intel's expansion in Ohio," said a statement from 
Keyvan Esfarjani, Intel's senior vice president of manufacturing, "will depend 
heavily on funding from the CHIPS Act."

   The Intel project is the largest single private-sector investment in Ohio's 
history, on par with an agreement in 1977 that brought Honda to central Ohio, 
where it now employs more than 14,000 people.

   "Intel's new facilities will be transformative for our state, creating 
thousands of good-paying jobs in Ohio manufacturing strategically vital 
semiconductors," Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said in a statement.

   Ohio beat out 40 other states for the project, DeWine said. State leaders 
pledged to work with the company to provide skilled workers who will need 
anywhere from a two-year community college education to advanced degrees.

   Intel, based in Santa Clara, California, announced plans last year to spend 
$20 billion for two new factories in Arizona. It's also pitching for European 
subsidies to build a big plant somewhere within the European Union and last 
month said it will invest $7.1 billion to expand its decades-old manufacturing 
operation in Malaysia, home to roughly 10% of the company's global workforce.

   Intel also has plants in Ireland, Israel, Vietnam and China.

   Intel is the No. 2 semiconductor manufacturer globally, with $73.1 billion 
in revenue last year, behind South Korean world leader Samsung Electronics with 
$76 billon, according to market analysis from Gartner Inc.

   Central Ohio, long known for a largely white-collar workforce in banking and 
insurance, has added high-tech jobs in recent years, with Amazon, Facebook, and 
Google all building data centers in the region.