Intel slows its roll on $28B Ohio fab expansion, pushing production to 2030s

x86 giant still expects to ramp 18A process tech this year

Intel's floundering foundry business hit another speed bump on Friday after executives delayed the completion of its $28 billion Ohio factory build-out until at least 2030.

"As we continue to invest across our US sites, it's important that we align the start of production of our fabs with the needs of our business and broader market demand," Intel's Chief Global Operations Officer and foundry lead, Naga Chandrasekaran, wrote in an open letter to employees Friday. "With that in mind, we are adjusting the timeline for our two Ohio fabs."

Intel now expects the first of the two fabs to start production between 2030 and 2031 with the second following roughly a year later. This marks the second significant delay to Intel's "Silicon Heartland," since it was announced in early 2022. The fabs were originally slated to enter production in 2025, however, those plans were closely tied to state and federal subsidies and tax incentives under the US CHIPS and Science Act.

By early last year, those plans were abandoned and the work on the site pushed back until late 2026. Since then Intel has faced significant financial headwinds as its foundry division has racked up billions of dollars in losses quarter after quarter, and the x86 giant has continued to outsource more chips to TSMC. President Trump's cutbacks to the US government may also have dire effects on public funding from the CHIPS Act, which Intel relies on.

In an attempt to staunch the bleeding, Intel announced plans to spin off its foundry unit as a subsidiary of Intel with its own board and management, and indefinitely delayed its planned expansion into Europe, including its hard-fought fab in Magdeburg, Germany, and its Polish assembly site.

The situation has been further complicated by former-CEO Pat Gelsinger's abrupt "retirement" late last year. He was responsible for driving Intel's push into the contract semiconductor manufacturing space.

As it stands, contractors working on Intel's Ohio fab site recently completed the basement level of the facilities and began work on the above-ground section of the building. This work, according to Chandrasekaran, won't stop with the delay – with construction continuing, just at a slower pace.

This, he said, will grant Intel the flexibility to "accelerate work and the start of operations if customer demand warrants."

And with the Trump administration calling for hefty import taxes on foreign-made semiconductors, a surge of interest in Intel's manufacturing and advanced packaging tech isn't out of the question.

Intel is slated to ramp production of its 18A process node later this year with the launch of its Panther Lake client processor family. The process tech is not only expected to underpin Intel's own internal products, but will be its first leading-edge node offered to external foundry customers. ®