Intel's plan to move 'oversized equipment' for its new fab in New Albany, Ohio, is being delayed, reports NBC4i. The move, which was supposed to start this past weekend, has been pushed back to no earlier than February 17 because of bad weather and the huge size of the 'overweight and oversized loads' of the equipment. The project to move the equipment is expected to last over nine months, meaning this phase of Intel's construction could be done near the end of 2024. There isn't a firm indication of how much work remains to be done at the site after the equipment is delivered. Still, it clearly will take much longer for the plant to become operational: Intel recently confirmed that its initial plans to begin producing chips in Ohio in 2025 were too optimistic.
Intel needs to transport and install plenty of fab tools at the site in the coming months. The current project involves transporting 18 oversized loads on trailers over 200 feet long, which could take up to nine months to finish. It is unclear which tools Intel will transport, but since the site in Ohio is brand new, it could be anything from advanced lithography machines to turbine generators.
The equipment is vital for constructing Intel's fab and was initially set to be transported through Franklin County starting Saturday. However, the Franklin County Engineer’s Office has now delayed the start date. Groveport police mentioned that the move might even get pushed to late February or early March, showing there's still some uncertainty on when the move will happen.
Weather issues, especially a flooded dock in Manchester, Adams County, are partly to blame for the delay. This dock, where the equipment will be taken off barges, is currently underwater, complicating the start of the transport.
Because the trailers carrying the loads are so large, they cannot go under overpasses, which is why the move requires using back roads, and the exact route they will take has not been announced yet. With a project this big expected to last nine months, the delay in getting started is a notable setback.
While the setback of a few weeks is rather minor given the long three- to five-year timelines associated with building a modern fab, as Intel recently told us, the company is already facing more significant setbacks on the project.
"While we will not meet the aggressive 2025 production goal that we anticipated when we first announced the selection of Ohio in January 2022, construction has been underway since breaking ground in late 2022, and we have not made any recent changes to our pace of construction or anticipated timelines," an Intel representative told Tom's Hardware. "Typical construction timelines for semiconductor manufacturing facilities are 3-5 years from groundbreaking, depending on a range of factors."
