Key Points

Intel's first Ohio factories may be delayed several years, but the chipmaker has already spent billions of dollars to make its plants a reality at the New Albany site in Licking County.

As of the end of 2024, Intel spent $3.7 billion and has signed contracts for another $3.2 billion in work meaning the company is already on the hook for roughly $6.9 billion, according to a progress report filed with the Ohio Department of Development last week. The report, which is part of the Megaproject Tax Credit Agreement that Intel has with Ohio, is filed annually.

When the new factories dubbed Ohio One were announced in 2022, the company said it would invest $20 billion. That number has since been increased to an estimated $28 billion.

"This investment is growing every day as we work to establish a new campus to build leading-edge semiconductor chips right here in Ohio," Jim Evers, vice president and Ohio site manager wrote in the progress report addressed to Lydia Mihalik, director of the Ohio Department of Development.

On the first of two fabs Intel intends to open on the site, construction workers have already poured 130,000 cubic yards of concrete and have begun installing 600 columns and 320 slabs, according to the report. Workers have also begun piecing together the steel trusses of the roof for the first factory. For context, 130,000 cubic yards would equate to pouring a nearly 27-foot solid concrete block over an acre.

On its second fab, workers have poured around 50,000 cubic yards of concrete and two cranes have been installed to help build the second facility, according to the company's report. Landscaping also began in 2024 with the company planting more than 4,500 trees and 1,400 shrubs across the property.

As of Dec. 31, Intel's Ohio operation had 163 employees, including 156 who live in Ohio and 7 employees who don't live in the state, the report showed. Intel has said it will hire around 3,000 employees for its first two fabs, once they become operational.

More than 430 Ohio companies have helped to support the project, including locally-based AEP Ohio, Gilbane and EMH&T, the report shows.

So far, Intel has received $2.2 billion of its $7.865 billion in funding as part of the federal CHIPS Incentives Program. At least $1.5 billion of that funding was set to go toward the New Albany project, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

An agreement between Intel and the Ohio Department of Development offered the company $300 million in grants to help with the construction of each factory, as long as they were completed by the end of 2028.

The progress report for the first time also revealed that Intel delayed the opening of its first semiconductor factory to 2030 or 2031.

By the time it opens, Intel's first factory will have faced at least five or six years of delays, as it was originally scheduled to begin operating in 2025. Intel's second Ohio factory won't be completed until at least 2031 and will begin running in 2032, according to the company.

"While this timeline is not as aggressive as we'd hoped, we remain fully committed to both fabs and the overall vision for the Ohio site," Evers wrote in the report. "We expect to have continuous construction until the fabs are operational, but we are adjusting the pace of construction to ensure we align the start of production with the needs of our customers and our business."

Woof! Intel just keeps losing. Even with the tax payer money they are still failing to deliver on time. Just absolutely pathetic. Intel should have blown TSMC out of the water if they focused on their core business and not addicted to financial engineering like stock buy back and getting tax payer money for capital investment for these factories.