Intel postpones opening of chip factories in Ohio from 2025 to ‘late 2026’

The opening of Intel’s first two chip factories on its Ohio campus has been postponed from 2025 to the end of 2026. The company wants to wait for a subsidy from the US government, which wants to provide additional support to chip manufacturers on its own soil in the coming years.

The factories were initially expected to start production in 2025. However, the construction of the factories is taking longer than expected. That is why Intel now assumes that the production locations can be put into use around the end of 2026, write, among others The Wall Street Journal and Reuters. An Intel spokesperson does not want to say when exactly the factories should open.

The two chip factories are part of a complex in which Intel says it can invest up to $100 billion. They must create three thousand permanent jobs. Construction of the factories, which started in September 2022, will create around seven thousand jobs.

Although Intel targeted opening the factories in 2025, it did not rule out that construction would take longer. Keyvan Esfarjani, who oversees Intel’s manufacturing operations, told The Wall Street Journal in 2022 that the size and pace of the expansion would “depend heavily on government funding.”

In the summer of 2022, US President Joe Biden signed the so-called Chips and Science Act. Through this law, the American government wants to reduce American dependence on international chip manufacturers and products. A total of $52.7 billion has been released for the American chip sector, including billions in subsidies for the construction of new chip factories. No major subsidies have been awarded so far. The US government is expected to announce more about this in the coming weeks and Intel will also receive a billion-dollar subsidy, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Render of the Intel chip factories in Ohio