The slow chip market and a delay in government funding allocations pushed back the estimated completion date for Intel’s $20 billion project to build a semiconductor manufacturing plant in Ohio, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Intel unveiled the plan to open a pair of facilities in January 2022. It broke ground nine months later. Production from the plants was projected to begin in January 2025. But now, it’s said to be late 2026, according to Mobile World Live. The Columbus Dispatch reported Intel hasn’t announced a new completion date, but the company said similar projects can take as long as five years.
WSJ reported the project is now held up by market challenges and funding issues. In a statement to WSJ, Intel highlighted significant progress has been made on the project. The company previously said the scope and pace of the project would “depend heavily on funding from the U.S. CHIPS [and Science] Act.” The act includes semiconductor manufacturing grants, research investments, and an investment tax credit for chip manufacturing.
However, the promised funding isn’t the only reason Intel is slowing its project down. People are now spending less money on technology than they did during the height of the pandemic, which is a shift the computer industry is still adjusting to, according to Hot Hardware. It makes it harder for Intel to invest so heavily in expanding production when it’s expected consumers will be buying fewer products containing Intel’s chips.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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