Intel’s New Albany semiconductor plants are still unfinished after $5.26 billion spent on construction

Intel has confirmed its decision to move the deadlines for completing its New Albany semiconductor plants into the next decade, after spending more than $5.2 billion on construction.

The company confirmed that construction for the first plant is now expected to be completed by 2030 and become operational by 2031, and that the second plant is to complete construction in 2031 and be operational in 2032.

The amount the company has spent to date on costs related to the two Licking County plants, known as Ohio One, includes $1.5 billion in federal funding and $600 million in state grants for the project. In a Feb. 7 letter to the Ohio Department of Development, Jim Evers, Intel vice president and Ohio site manager, said that the plants are still under construction, according to The Columbus Dispatch.

“Ohio One remains part of our long-term plans for U.S. manufacturing, and we will continue to pace construction with customer demand,” Evers told the Columbus newspaper.

A development department spokesperson did not respond to an Ohio.news request to confirm additional details about Intel’s timeline for completing the project or to share a copy of Evers’ letter.

The vice president also said that the major underground corridors supporting permanent site utilities had been completed, and that part of an office building had been constructed. Intel has spent $5.26 billion on the site so far, including $1.5 billion on the fabrication campus last year, according to the Dispatch.

Intel began construction on the Licking County project in 2022 and said that “production is expected to come online in 2025” for the first plant and that the company planned to spend an “initial investment of more than $20 billion.” In February 2025, the company announced that construction would be completed in 2030 for the first plant and 2031 for the second.

Intel entered an incentive grant agreement with the development department that provided $600 million in grant money to help in the construction of both factories, and would require the company to pay the grants back if the plants are not completed by the end of 2028.

The company also received $7.865 billion in direct funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce, including $1.5 billion for the New Albany plants, and a 25% investment tax credit under the CHIPS Act.

The Trump administration purchased $8.9 billion in Intel shares last year to secure U.S.-made chip production. The remaining $5.7 billion of CHIPS Act funding that had not yet been disbursed was used to partially pay for the investment.

After the August 2025 shares purchase, the federal government gained a 9.9 percent stake and had invested a total of $11.1 billion in the company, according to Intel.

The share purchase occurred after President Donald Trump and other elected officials, including U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, raised concerns about Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan’s possible ties to the Chinese Communist Party and the company’s sales to a Chinese military university and semiconductor company without obtaining licenses.

Republican Lt. Governor Jim Tressel previously appeared to back Intel amid concerns about the company’s CEO’s possible ties to the Chinese Communist Party.