The Ohio Chamber of Commerce is breathing a sigh of relief after news Tuesday that the Biden administration is releasing $7.8 billion in CHIPS act grant money for Intel projects.
The money will go to Intel's New Albany project, along with projects in three other states. But it's almost $1 billion less than the administration originally promised.
WOSU's Renee Fox spoke with Steve Stivers, CEO of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, about the project.
Fox: Hi Steve. So, why isn't Intel getting the $8.5 billion the administration originally promised?
Stivers: Basically because they got a Department of Defense contract for about $3 billion. They're going to sort of subtract that money out of Intel's cut, if you will ... They punished an American company for getting an American customer.
Fox: Even with that reduction, I'm sure the chamber is happy to see the federal government is finally sending the money.
Stivers: I think today is a great day for Ohio. It's a great day for manufacturing in the United States, for microchips, because it gets federal government money moving and ensures that we can produce chips here in Ohio. So it's really exciting.
Fox: There was some stress in the last few weeks. It'd been more than two years since the act was passed, yet no money had been distributed.
Stivers: You know, we were pretty patient. I thought we were patient, waiting two years before we started raising little alarm bells. Almost two-and-a-half years before we sent a letter to the White House and the Commerce Department saying, 'do your job,' but now it's time to finish that job and get the money out.
Fox: So is all of that money coming to Ohio?
Stivers: One-point-five billion of that will come to Ohio and make sure that the first fab is finished. And we're super excited about that and getting chips made in the United States. Our whole supply chain is going to develop around that in central Ohio, and it's going to be a whole new industry that we didn't have before. So it's a big deal.
Fox: Would you say the money coming in is like the last piece of the puzzle for New Albany's build?
Stivers: I think so. You know, we still need the hundreds and thousands of construction workers to finish the job. But that takes a little time. There's a lot to do. But the funding is clearly in place now to help move things forward. The only other thing Intel needs is obviously more customers, more domestic customers, people that want to make their chips in the United States, just like the United States Department of Defense already has agreed to do. And we think, you know, American companies should do the same thing to secure their supply chain.
Fox: Do you think the new administration will be supportive of the project?
Stivers: I'm not worried about the CHIPS Act or the commitment to American manufacturing of microchips with the new Congress or the new administration, in fact. You know, (Speaker of the House) Mike Johnson walked back the comments that received a lot of press where he said he might repeal the CHIPS Act. He walked those back almost immediately. And in exchanges I've had with senior members of the U.S. House, they have assured me that there is no risk and I believe there's no risk of the CHIPS Act being repealed.
Fox: So how far along is the work in New Albany?
Stivers: So they're starting to go vertical. Like I said, they poured about 60 feet of concrete. So now they're starting to build up. It's starting to look like buildings, starting to see things. It's starting to take shape. And then, they have to put all the equipment inside those buildings. So this is a long term billion dollar project. So multi-billion dollars over the next, you know, almost two years, three years, they'll continue to build. And then, of course, many of us in Ohio hope they build even more fabs over the next 10 years and make this the biggest, most advanced chip manufacturing site anywhere in the world.
Fox: Ok, thank you, Steve.
Stivers: Thanks, Renee. You, too. Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy yourself.
