Once again, Gov. Mike DeWine is expressing confidence that the $28 billion Intel computer chip manufacturing complex northeast of Columbus will be built. The company delayed the dates by which both fab plants will be operational to at least 2031, and announced in April it planned to lay off a fifth of its workforce.
DeWine said he recently talked to Intel’s new CEO Lip-Bu Tan "a few days ago", and described him as “very, very optimistic”. But DeWine admitted the semiconductor company has to get customers.
"What he has to do is go out and sell now. Looks like a pretty good salesman to me," DeWine said. "It's all about production. It's all about the sales. It's all about the book of business. And that's what they have to focus on."
But DeWine stressed that Intel has already spent billions on the Ohio project so far.
"They're not going to walk away from this site. They've got $6 billion, $7 billion, maybe $8 billion literally invested in the ground. They're not leaving that," DeWine said. "It's always been a question, even from the very beginning, at what date do they start really production, and then do they go to their second phase of production? That's still very, very much up in the air."
"It's slower than we would have hoped," DeWine said. "But they're going to do it eventually. We just hope sooner rather than later."
The state has already put up $600 million in grants toward the Intel project. It was the largest public-private partnership in state history when it was announced in early 2022, though Ohio offered a bigger tax break to military drone maker Anduril, which broke ground south of Columbus in April.
