COLUMBUS, Ohio — Gov. Mike DeWine and Intel have confirmed the company’s plans to build a massive new semiconductor manufacturing complex in Ohio.
Construction will begin later this year on a pair of factories in the Columbus area, and is scheduled to be complete in 2025. The project will cost $20 billion and employ 3,000 workers, and will support jobs for an additional 17,000 people in fields like construction, engineering, entertainment and restaurants according to state officials.
Intel says it eventually plans to expand the project, and when it’s fully built out in 10 years, could cost up to $100 billion, which the company says would make it one of the largest semiconductor manufacturing sites in the world. Workers at the new plant will make an average of $135,000 a year, according to state officials.
Ohio officials have pledged $1 billion in infrastructure improvements related to the project, according to a Time Magazine report. Gov. Mike DeWine hasn’t announced specifics, but Time reported the state’s investment will include widening Ohio 161, a state route that connects the site to New Albany, the Columbus suburb outside which the project is being built.
The DeWine administration has not responded to a Jan. 11 records request from cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer detailing the site award and related incentives.
But as previously reported by cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer, New Albany officials annexed thousands of acres of incorporated land earlier this month, paving the way for the deal. Intel informed state officials in late December they had picked Ohio as the site for the project, according to sources.
The DeWine administration calls the planned manufacturing complex the largest economic development project in state history. It will add $2.8 billion to the state’s gross domestic product when it’s done. Semiconductor plants require a massive amount of electricity and water, but building one in Ohio could spark a high-tech industry throughout the region, according to experts. More than 140 existing business across Ohio already are Intel suppliers.
DeWine and other Ohio officials plan to announce additional project details at 2:30 p.m. today, according to the governor’s office.
In recent months, Intel and other semiconductor companies have announced plans to expand in the United States, part of the trend of “reshoring,” or moving manufacturing capacity for the economically crucial industry to America from overseas, including East Asia, where much of the industry is concentrated. Intel also is planning new factories in Germany, Italy and France, according to Bloomberg News.
The coronavirus pandemic and its associated labor shortages and supply-chain disruptions have been major factors in the recent national shortage of computer chips, used for cars, electronics and many other common consumer goods. Tensions between China and the United States also are a factor, and U.S. officials have viewed growing domestic chip-manufacturing capacity as a national security issue.
President Joe Biden and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo plan to deliver remarks on recent developments in the semiconductor industry at the White House in Washington, D.C. later this morning, according to the Biden Administration.
Companies also planning major new computer-chip factories in the U.S. include Samsung, which announced plans to build a $17 billion complex in Texas in December.
Washington, D.C. reporter Sabrina Eaton contributed to this story
