Thousands of acres of cornfields and vacant land in Licking County east of Columbus will eventually to be the site of the nation's first Intel chip factory, and the company's first new manufacturing site in 40 years.
Intel plans to build at least two semiconductor fabrication plants or "fabs" on 1,000 acres. The company will research, develop, and manufacture its most cutting-edge computer chips. It's expected to employ at least 3,000 people. Construction will begin this year, with around 7,000 jobs expected from that. The complex is expected to be in operation by 2025.
This factory is hailed as the largest private-sector investment in Ohio history.
Before Friday afternoon's announcement in Licking County, Intel's CEO Pat Gelsinger went to the White House for a press conference about the Ohio project.
“This will be our first new manufacturing site in 40 years and spanning nearly a thousand acres will be a ‘mega-fab’ location that can accommodate a total of eight chip factories or ‘fabs’ as we call them," Gelsinger said. "At full build-out, this site alone could grow to as much as $100 billion of total investment over the decade."
The investment isn't just a big deal in Ohio. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo says last year, because they couldn't get semi-conductor chips, auto manufacturers produced 7.5 million fewer cars. And that increases the price of cars overall. She says the problem will get worse because electric vehicles require three times the number of chips that are required for gas vehicles.
This story will be updated throughout the day.
