WASHINGTON - Intel, the world's largest semiconductor manufacturer, is set to announce plans Friday to build a new $20 billion factory outside of Columbus, Ohio, a move President Joe Biden will hail as a major sign of progress of his administration's work to boost U.S. production of the critical microchips.
Biden is expected to make the project, planned for New Albany, Ohio, a focus of remarks Friday morning at the White House touting improvements to supply-chain bottlenecks.
The president will also urge Congress to pass the CHIPS for America Act, which would provide $52 billion to incentivize future semiconductor investments.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a shortage of semiconductor microchips, which power thousands of products such as cars, cell phones, appliances, gaming consoles and medical devices. The shortage depleted vehicle inventory, producing global supply chain issues and increasing consumer prices on automobiles and other goods.
Increasingly, the U.S. has relied on foreign import of computer chips. Currently, 12% of the world's chips are made in the U.S., down from 37% in the 1990s, according to industry officials. About 80% are made in Asia.
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The Ohio project, which will be Intel's first new manufacturing site in 40 years, includes two semiconductor fabrication plants, or what the company calls fabs. It eventually could involve eight factories and $100 billion in investment over the next decade, including Intel and its suppliers and partners.
Construction is expected to start this year, with the first chips being produced by 2025.
"Ultimately, we hope to establish the largest semiconductor manufacturing site on the planet,'' Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger and Senior Vice President Keyvan Esfarjani told Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted in a letter last month.
Since the beginning of 2021, the semiconductor industry has announced $80 billon in new projects in the U.S., according to the White House. The Ohio project is expected to create 3,000 construction jobs and an additional 7,000 construction jobs.
Contributing: Mike Williams, The Columbus Dispatch
Follow Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Intel plans $20 billion semiconductor plant in Ohio amid chip shortage
