As the federal government begins to fork over its long-awaited CHIPS and Science Act money, Intel鈥檚 chief executive officer is out the door, after four years in charge.
Economic uncertainty has, and certainly could continue to, affect the computer chipmaker鈥檚 huge New Albany project, which the state is pouring dollars and resources into.
Intel has gotten nearly $7.87 billion in direct federal funding awards through the CHIPS Act for various projects nationwide, including those in Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon and Ohio.
The announcement last week came as President Joe Biden prepares to leave office, and President-elect Donald Trump to take it. Just before the November election, high-profile Republicans鈥攊ncluding Trump and U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson鈥攃ast doubt on the future of the Biden-era bill.
In Ohio, however, GOP state executives see it as a lifeline two years in the making for the eventual plot of plants east of Columbus.
鈥淭hey have been cash-starved, essentially, which means that they couldn鈥檛 build as fast as they had intended to,鈥� Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said in an interview.
The federal CHIPS funds are a hefty piece, but they aren鈥檛 the whole pie for a project reliant on government dollars. The state has also already disbursed $600 million in onshoring grants for Intel. Intel got those grants, Husted said, under clear conditions for the deliverables on the other end.
鈥淏uild the fabs, create the jobs,鈥� Husted said, 鈥淥r we can get the money back.鈥�
Intel is under contract with the Ohio Department of Development to deliver on its job creation and investment commitments to the state by 2028. The U.S. Department of Commerce contract might afford Intel additional leeway, said Bailey Sandin with left-leaning researcher Policy Matters Ohio.
The document isn鈥檛 public, Sandin said, but what鈥檚 been released waffles on when Intel has to have finished its construction鈥攁nd whether it has to construct a second fabrication plant.
鈥淲hat we can ultimately see is that the governor is not putting pressure on Intel to make sure that it鈥檚 fulfilling its promises and operating under the timeline that it was supposed to be operating under,鈥� Sandin said in an interview.
A department of development spokesperson wrote over email he couldn鈥檛 鈥渟peak to the specifics of Intel鈥檚 agreements with the federal government.鈥�
The year 2030 would be a serious shift from this February, when an Intel spokesperson first confirmed it wouldn鈥檛 meet its 鈥渁ggressive鈥� project finish date to be online by 2025. The spokesperson declined to pinpoint a date then but said based on prior project timelines, construction could continue through 2027.
Since then, Intel鈥檚 stock only sank further, it put out a global cost-cutting plan with job reductions and restructuring, and earlier this week, according to Bloomberg, CEO Pat Gelsinger was forced to retire by Intel鈥檚 board of directors. Gelsinger was crucial to Intel鈥檚 announced investment in central Ohio. Husted has faith nonetheless.
鈥淎merica needs to build chips in America, chips are essential to our economic and national security,鈥� he said.
At a projected 7,000 construction jobs, 3,000 direct fab jobs, and thousands more indirect jobs, and with billions of dollars on the line, it鈥檚 been heralded as the biggest public-private partnership in state history.
