NEW ALBANY — Intel's New Albany chip campus was supposed to be making semiconductors by now. Instead, the company told state officials that its first factory won't finish until 2030, with production in 2030-31 and a second plant trailing into 2032.
The blame for that slide rests mostly with Intel. When it announced the project in 2022 — the largest investment ever made by a company in Ohio's history at more than $28 billion — the company promised an aggressive 2025 start.
That date first slipped to late 2026, then to the end of the decade. Intel says it is matching factory openings to customer demand, but it has also leaned on a $2 billion SoftBank infusion to steady its books. You can read Intel's revised timeline.
But Ohioans should understand where their own leaders dropped the ball. The state's $600 million grant ties Intel to jobs, payroll, and investment by Dec. 31, 2028, yet the deal includes no provision requiring the plants to open by any date.
So far, the state hasn't tried to recover a dime, mostly because Intel hasn't formally walked away. And about $800 million the state is spending on roads, water lines, and a reclamation facility, which isn't covered by clawbacks at all.
On top of that sits a 30-year tax credit that hands much of Intel's future employee income taxes back to the company, money that would otherwise reach schools, libraries, and local governments. Here's why the state won't claw its money back.
The lesson is plain for the next big deal. Tie the public's money to firm completion dates and protect the spending that can't be recovered. The construction and supplier work is real, but the permanent jobs Ohioans were sold are still years away.
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