NEW ALBANY, Ohio (WCMH) – Intel now has funding through the federal government and the CHIPS act to advance its plans for a plant here in central Ohio and other plants throughout the country.
The U.S. Department of Commerce said it is giving Intel up to $7.8, billion in direct funding. According to Intel, this funding coupled with a 25 percent investment tax credit that will support the company's plan to invest more than $100 billion in the United States.
Intel says the money will be spent in several ways, including $56 million to help train students and a faculty at all levels to promote industry growth, $5 million to help increase childcare availability near Intel facilities, and $4 million to support Intel's participation in the CHIPS Women in Construction framework.
Governor Mike DeWine and Lt. Governor John Husted released a statement following this Tuesday morning announcement.
“Today’s announcement that Intel-Ohio is receiving CHIPS Act funding is a much-needed step forward in the important objective of making the most advanced computer chips in America. The DeWine-Husted Administration has never wavered in its pledge to bring these chip manufacturing plants to Ohio. The work to build the Silicon Heartland now moves forward with even more certainty, advancing our economic and national security to the benefit of the working people of Ohio and America.”
The reduction in funding is largely considered a byproduct of the $3 billion that Intel is also receiving to provide computer chips to the military. It is not related to the company's financial records or the recent announcement that the company would cut about 15,000 jobs.
As Intel has grappled with those layoffs, restructuring and a dropping stock price thanks to back-to-back losses in its last two quarterly earnings reports, CEO Pat Gelsinger has been weighing options that may return the company's good fortune.
Just two years prior, his company was the poster child alongside President Joe Biden for a push for domestic semiconductor manufacturing. President Biden hailed Intel as a job creator and praised the company for plans to "build a workforce of the future," with the project expected to generate 7,000 construction jobs and 3,000 full-time jobs.
The initiative saw the CHIPS and Science Act materialize, in hopes of weaning the U.S. off dependence on Taiwan, the international hub for computer chip manufacturing that faces an ever-present threat of Chinese invasion.
As part of the legislation, Intel secured billions in federal funding to construct a new fabrication plant in New Albany and expand its existing computer chip factories in Arizona and Oregon. Fast-forward to 2024, Intel not yet received the promised $8.5 billion in funds. Gelsinger, speaking with Yahoo! Finance, made it known he was getting impatient.
Signed into law in 2022, the CHIPS and Science Act is a $280 billion package aimed at sharpening the U.S. edge in military technology and manufacturing, while minimizing the kinds of supply disruptions that occurred in 2021, after the start of the coronavirus pandemic, when a shortage of chips stalled factory assembly lines and fueled inflation.
Ohio Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Steve Stivers also celebrated Tuesday morning's announcement with a statement.
"Today’s announcement strengthens America’s national security and makes microchip manufacturing viable in the U.S. It's a great day to be a Buckeye," he said in a statement. "The Ohio Chamber would like to thank Intel for their commitment to Ohio, the Silicon Heartland, where we still make things every day. We would also like to thank the Biden Administration, Secretary Raimondo, and the CHIPS Office led by Mike Schmidt for the thousands of hours of work it took to make this announcement happen. We look forward to working with the incoming administration to continue the imperative mission of the CHIPS Act, to improve our national and economic security by making more microchips in the U.S.”
