Intel CEO aims to create world’s largest chip factory on US soil

• Intel CEO Patrick Gelsinger plans to build the world’s largest semiconductor fab in Ohio.
• Gelsinger spoke with TIME about Intel’s plans to move the semiconductor chip supply chain to Ohio by 2025.
• Intel’s $20 billion, 1,000-acre facility will be the “largest silicon manufacturing site on the planet,” according to Gelsinger.

Intel CEO Patrick Gelsinger believes the best solution to the global chip shortage is to build the world’s largest semiconductor fab right here on American soil.

In an interview with Time, Gelsinger said his goal in developing Intel’s next $20 billion mega-factory in New Albany, Ohio – which was announced earlier this week at a press conference with President Joe Biden – is to rebuild “a complete supply chain” for semiconductors in the United States.

“As we look to 2030 and beyond, we might see a radically different view of our national supply chains,” Gelsinger told Time. “And, as we said, COVID has made us think about these things differently.”

The plant, which is expected to be operational in 2025, will include two semiconductor fabs where Intel will research, develop and manufacture computer chips. The effort is expected to employ around 3,000 people to produce the chips, which power everything from cars to gadgets like iPhones, game consoles and computers.

Companies like Intel had been plagued by supply chain shortages and constraints around chips even before the pandemic, though factory shutdowns and rising demand exacerbated the problem.

According to Gelsinger, the best way to alleviate the crisis is to bring the supply chain to the United States. The CEO told Time that Intel plans to implement its most advanced technology in the factory, adding that the factory could expand to up to 2,000 acres.

“We hope this will become the largest silicon manufacturing site on the planet,” Gelsinger said.

Although Ohio might seem like an unexpected choice for Intel, given that its main hubs are mostly on the West Coast, Gelsinger told TIME that Intel’s move to the Midwest is strategic as the region attempts a comeback. in the making.

“Ohio has a great reputation as a manufacturing site,” Gelsinger said. “For other industries, it’s been leveraged well in that regard – manufacturing is hard work. It’s just very disciplined execution.”

Intel’s announcement is the largest private sector investment in Ohio’s history, according to the magazine. Gelsinger met several times with various leaders in Washington, D.C., to discuss moving semiconductor manufacturing to the United States to ease supply chain bottlenecks under the CHIPS for America Act. .

Passed last year, the CHIPS Act authorized federal investments in chip manufacturing to incentivize chipmakers in the United States. However, the CHIPS Act does not provide funding for incentives. While the Senate passed $52 billion in funding in June, the House did not pass the legislation.

“[The CHIPS Act] allows us to go bigger and faster, but we’re not waiting for it to get going,” Gelsinger told Time. “We run a business. We are not conducting a political process. We’re on to it.”