Intel's Ohio Fab Delayed as Corporate Chip Bet Slows

Intel crews installed the first major structural truss at the company’s chip fabrication plant in New Albany, Ohio, as the project remains years behind its original schedule. Intel once expected the factory to begin delivering chips in 2025; it now aims to finish construction in 2030. This milestone opens a new construction phase. But Intel still needs customers to make the investment pay off.

A Corporate Timetable, Revised

Intel announced the Ohio factory in 2022. The company now plans to complete a second fab at the site in 2031. Both facilities sit just northeast of Columbus, where Intel’s production plans depend on corporate decisions and on customers willing to use its manufacturing capacity.

The Ohio project is part of Intel’s effort to make chips for outside customers, a build-out begun under former CEO Pat Gelsinger. When Lip-Bu Tan took the helm in 2025, his turnaround strategy took a more cautious approach: wait for customer demand before moving ahead with ambitious fab plans. That shift puts the construction schedule behind one key question: will outside businesses commit to Intel’s foundry service?

In September, reports said SK Hynix, the world’s leading maker of high-bandwidth memory, could partner with Intel in Ohio to lease foundry space for memory-chip production at the new site. Neither company confirmed plans. The potential partnership remains a report, not a customer commitment announced by either company.

Capacity Without Customers

Intel also hasn’t secured a major external customer for the 18A chips made at its Arizona fab. By late 2025, the Arizona facility was producing Intel’s most advanced 18A chips in high volume, and the company uses them for its own processors. Chandrasekaran said Wednesday that operations at Intel’s next Arizona fab are expected to begin by the end of 2028.

Intel’s earlier manufacturing problems have left customers reluctant to commit again. Once a dominant chip manufacturer, the company suffered major delays with its 7- and 10-nanometer nodes, contributing to its stock’s worst year ever in 2024. The consequences in the company’s plans are commercial: customers hesitate, while Intel adjusts its timetable and investment strategy.

Record AI demand may create an opening for Intel. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. can’t make chips quickly enough, and competition for production space on TSMC’s factory lines is “extremely fierce,” even for Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices, Apple and Broadcom, according to Mizuho Securities analyst Jordan Klein.

The Leverage Behind the Build

TechInsights analyst Dan Hutcheson said Intel could give customers another source for chip production. “People want a second source to be able to twist TSMC’s arm and keep them honest on pricing,” Hutcheson said. “All the big ones have been testing there.”

Intel Foundry head Naga Chandrasekaran called the construction milestone “another significant step toward expanded U.S. leading-edge semiconductor capacity,” in a post on the company’s website Wednesday. The truss is in place. Customer commitments and production plans will shape whether the build-out delivers what Intel expects.