Intel's Ohio One project shows healthy progress as new job listings pop up — construction seems to be well underway as contractor actively hiring for ambitious chip factory

Back in 2022, Intel announced its Ohio One project, originally pitched as America's biggest fab complex at one point. Since then, plans have been scaled back, and the project has faced multiple delays amidst internal shakeups — but it was never abandoned. A few months ago, Intel confirmed that Ohio One is still alive and kicking after the company was probed by a U.S. Senator. Today, new job listings posted by the site's contractor hint toward the project finally picking up steam.

Bechtel Group's Manufacturing and Technology unit, the construction firm responsible for building the Ohio One, has put up new recruitment offers on its website. At least eight of them directly mention New Albany, the city in Licking County serving as the location for Intel's "Silicon Heartland." Clicking on some of these listings reveals a project overview which says Bechtel is designing and building the first phase of Ohio One, spread across 2.5 million square feet, housing "as much steel as eight Eiffel Towers".

Ohio One will start with two fabs, Mod 1 and Mod 2, but the space can accommodate up to eight in the future. The current timeline indicates that these factories will be up and running by at least 2030-2031, which marks a significant delay from the admittedly generous 2025 estimates set at the time of the original announcement. Mod 1 will be ready for production first, with Mod 2 likely follow in a year. By that point, Intel might've already moved past even its next-gen 14A process.

Intel's latest Panther Lake lineup of mobile CPUs is built in the U.S. at its Arizona and Oregon facilities using the company's new 18A node, a major breakthrough for domestic chip manufacturing. But 18A doesn't have big external clients beyond the Blue Team's own needs, something that it desperately wants to change with 14A. Ever since his appointment, CEO Lip-Bu Tan has been rather bearish about the node, but just a few days ago, the executive made a sharp reversal in his sentiments.

Ohio One had been long prophesied as the birthplace of 14A, but as things stand right now, that window has likely slipped since 14A is tipped to be production-ready by 2027. Its derivatives, like 14A-E, will have already become a large part of Intel's portfolio before Ohio One even opens its doors. That being said, the project was always intended as a leading-edge logic campus, so any new processes can be taped out in the future. We don't need to speculate that far ahead; let's stick with the present.

The White House released $8.9 billion worth of the remaining CHIPS Act funding to Intel in exchange for a 10% stake in the company last year. Add to that a budding Nvidia partnership worth $5 billion, and we see a revitalized Intel that finally seems competitive again (especially in its Foundry business), accelerating work on Ohio One after years of stagnation. Now, only time will tell exactly who will cut the ribbon at Mod 1 in a few years from now.

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