Comment Intel puts on a show for its biggest manufacturing announcement, with episodes every few years featuring the CEO and President of the United States in rotation.
Intel boss Pat Gelsinger and President Joe Biden are the latest to join the series, joining forces Friday Announce chip maker’s Invest $20 billion at a factory near Columbus, Ohio. These fabs could be operational by 2025 and manufacture chips to 2nm and beyond.
“This is our first major website announcement in 40 years,” Gelsinger said in On stage Later in the day with Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R).
“Intel’s announcement today is a signal to China and the rest of the world that from now on, our important manufacturing products in this country will be made in the United States,” DeWine said.
Intel’s announcement today is a signal to China and the rest of the world that from now on, our essential manufacturing products in this country will be made in the U.S.
Intel has previously dispatched its chief executive and commander-in-chief to announce billions of dollars into factories, and the presidents have used the events to highlight U.S. manufacturing and job growth. But the fallout is riddled with unfulfilled promises and failed goals, in part because of Intel’s sometimes incoherent manufacturing and product strategies.
This time, Gelsinger identified manufacturing as the main growth driver as part of his Integrated Device Manufacturing 2.0 strategy. Intel has pledged to meaningfully expand its contract manufacturing, making components using non-x86 Arm and RISC-V architectures, and has contracted semiconductor rival Qualcomm as a foundry customer.
Intel’s latest $20 billion commitment will go towards building two factories on 1,000 acres, with the potential to expand to 2,000 acres and eight fabs. The site will employ 3,000 people with an average salary of $135,000 and will bring 7,000 construction jobs to Ohio, DeWine said.
You can’t blame Gelsinger for announcing the factory: his shareholders and the world, amid a chip supply crunch, expected it. But not only should the news be viewed in historical context, it remains to be seen whether Intel will be able to deliver on the promises it made for the Ohio factory.
In 2011, when then-CEO Paul Otellini announced Intel’s $5 billion completion of Fab 42, then-President Barack Obama toured Intel’s fab in Hillsboro, Oregon. At the time, Fab 42 would produce 14-nanometer chips, including smartphone processors, and create 4,000 jobs.
Ultimately, the announcement turned out to be a false promise. Intel called off the completion of Fab 42 in 2014 after manufacturing issues and missteps in markets including mobile devices. In 2016, Intel laid off 12,000 employees prioritize their products in the data center and IoT markets.
In 2017, then-CEO Brian Krzanich reaffirmed his commitment to complete Fab 42, this time repackaged as a new statement with President Donald Trump.Intel says it will invest $7 billion to complete Fab 42 to make 7nm chips.
Intel launched Fab 42 in Arizona in late 2020 to produce chips at 10nm instead of 7nm.that is the process node delayed years Intel lost its manufacturing lead over TSMC and Samsung due to a critical manufacturing blunder.
Chipzilla hopes to better fulfill its commitment to Gelsinger, who wants to bring Intel back to its engineering roots.
Intel broke ground on more Arizona factories in September, $20 billion Price tag. Overseas manufacturing expansion efforts are also underway in Oregon and New Mexico, as well as in Ireland.
An Intel spokesman said there is a growing need to provide foundry customers with capacity to meet higher demand for the company’s chips register in an email.
Gelsinger emphasized “the importance of building a more resilient supply chain and ensuring reliable access to advanced U.S. semiconductors for years to come. Today’s announcement is a key step in our plan to achieve these goals,” an Intel spokesperson said. ®
