Intel Delays Ohio Semiconductor Factory to 2030, Maybe 2031

There has been little good news to come out of Intel in recent memory, and now the storied chipmaker has announced it will postpone the opening of a new Ohio semiconductor factory that was originally slated to begin operating this year. The company said Friday it will not will be finished with construction on the plant until 2030, and likely begin production in 2031. Bloomberg earlier reported on the news.

The announcement is a blow to the United States’ ambition to become a semiconductor superpower. Intel is a major centerpiece of the plan that would help America become less exposed to Taiwan as it faces threats from China.

Intel is set to receive $7.9 billion in funding from the federal government through the CHIPS Act, but the company must reach certain milestones, from construction to starting production. The CHIPS Act was a bill put forth by President Biden that received bipartisan support to bring chip production back to the U.S. Reports indicate that President Trump is delaying payments and looking to renegotiate terms of some of the deals with chipmakers set to receive funding, potentially slowing down Intel at a time when rivals are only speeding up.

Intel already has chip manufacturing located domestically, but primarily to build its own chipsets. Its business making chips for other clients has never quite taken off, as experts have said the company was not adept at catering to other companies’ needs like Taiwan’s TSMC, today the largest chipmaker in the world. President Trump earlier this week declined to say whether or not the U.S. would intervene should Taiwan be invaded by China. Some estimates suggest that if China took over Taiwan and cut off access to TSMC, the U.S. economy could lose 8% of GDP and untold numbers of jobs.

Intel was always going to be a risky bet for a U.S. chip renaissance. The company, once a shining beacon of Silicon Valley, missed numerous major technological shifts, most famously declining to develop a mobile chip for the original iPhone, leaving that business to the likes of Arm and Apple. It never invested heavily in GPUs either, leading Nvidia to recently become one of the biggest companies in the world and capture much of the profit from the AI boom.

Intel tried getting into the business of developing mobile cellular antennas, but abandoned that venture and sold it to Apple, which recently launched the iPhone 16e with its first modem. And with low-powered chips originally designed for mobile becoming more capable, Intel is even losing ground in PCs.

Recent reports have suggested that Intel is considering the possibility of splitting up entirely, selling its chip design business to Broadcom and the manufacturing side to TSMC. The company has laid off thousands of employees in recent years amid shrinking sales and increasing losses; its stock is down more than 50% in the past five years. It is unclear whether the Trump administration would allow TSMC to take over Intel’s factories, considering it is a foreign company.

It all goes to show how even once-great titans of industry can fall from grace through management missteps, and perhaps explains why the big tech companies today are pouring billions into AI before knowing whether or not returns will come. They do not want to be the next Intel.