OK Chips Funding, ‘Get It to My Desk,’ Biden Urges Congress

President Joe Biden and Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger used Intel’s announcement Friday of its $20 billion investment to build two semiconductor fabs in central Ohio as an appeal for congressional enactment of the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) and its authorization of federal funding under the Chips Act for domestic semiconductor R&D and manufacturing incentives.

In the U.S., “we barely produce 10%” of the world’s chips, “despite being the leader in chip design and research, and we don’t have the ability to make the most advanced chips,” Biden told a White House news briefing. As “historic” as Intel’s Ohio announcement is, enacting the USICA “is an important part of today’s message,” he said.

USICA “includes a $52 billion incentive for more companies to build their manufacturing facilities” in the U.S., said Biden. “I want other cities and states to be able to make announcements like the one being made here today. That’s why I want to see Congress pass this bill right away and get it to my desk.” He vowed his administration “will use all the tools we have to reshore our supply chains, strengthen our economic resilience and make more in America.”

“Folks at home might be wondering, why such a big deal for manufacturing something so small, the size of a postage stamp,” said Biden. “Semiconductors are small computer chips that power virtually everything in our lives.” U.S. federal R&D “led to the creation of these chips,” he said. “Taxpayer dollars.”

Most semiconductors are sourced overseas, and the U.S. “cannot rely solely on imports for such essential technology,” said Gelsinger. “The only way to address this economic and security risk is to increase our domestic semiconductor manufacturing capacity,” he said. At Intel, "we are doing our part, but we can’t do it alone,” he said.

Congress needs to “finish the job” by approving the Chips Act funding, said Gelsinger. “Our announcement today is motivated by the Chips Act.” Intel’s Ohio project will be built "bigger and faster with the Chips Act,” he said. The legislation will “help address the long-term impacts of the semiconductor shortage, global supply chain challenges and associated rising costs faced by American families,” he said.

The “campus” Intel is building in Licking County, Ohio, just east of Columbus, is the company’s first new production site in 40 years, said Gelsinger. The site spans 1,000 acres that can accommodate eight fabs, he said. “What we’re announcing today are the first two, but we hope to build out that full campus.” Intel plans to invest an additional $100 million in the next decade “to help develop and attract a pipeline of skilled talent,” and “bolster” R&D programs “throughout the region,” he said. “The impact of a megasite like this is simply profound.”

Planning on the Ohio fabs will begin immediately, and construction will start by year-end, with production of the first chips possible by 2025, said Intel: “The initial phase of the project is expected to create 3,000 Intel jobs and 7,000 construction jobs over the course of the build, and to support tens of thousands of additional local long-term jobs across a broad ecosystem of suppliers and partners.”

The Ohio fabs "will support the most advanced process technologies" in the industry, Gelsinger told an Intel launch event Friday afternoon at the Midland Theatre in Newark, Ohio, a short distance from the fabs' eventual site. Advanced semiconductor nodes currently are commercially deployed or in development at 5 nanometers and below, he said. "We're going to go a lot further than that here in Ohio to 2 nanometers and below," he said. "These will be the most advanced process capabilities in the world. Our foundry customers need these for their next-generation products." Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine spoke at the Midland Theatre event, as did Kristina Johnson, president of Ohio State University, from which Intel said it would draw high-skilled engineering talent for the fabs.