The administration just sank a historic $8.5 billion into the veteran chipmaker. Now a lot is riding on one company’s corporate promises.
Biden is “looking for wins,” said Sarah Kreps, a political scientist who directs Cornell University’s Tech Policy Institute. “The administration is trying to use this Intel grant as a success story.” To deliver on the jobs and political upside, Intel is now going to have to deliver on its ambitious corporate promises. It’s no sure feat — the company lost ground as rivals became more cutting-edge and central to the global tech industry.
Today, none of the world’s most advanced chips are produced in the U.S. Intel does the majority of its advanced manufacturing and R&D domestically, but its fastest chips trail those produced in Taiwan. TSMC is building plants in Arizona but hasn’tto bringing its most sophisticated technology to the U.S. — though that could change, with it expecting a government CHIPS award of its own.
Biden visits an Intel facility under construction near New Albany, Ohio, on Sept. 9, 2022. | Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Imageshe’s “bet the whole company on” — is debuting later this year and will be used for the first time to mass-produce chips in Arizona. The launch of its Ohio fab is facing aonboard for its next manufacturing process, which it promises will take the technological lead back from TSMC.
“Intel comes closer to what I would call industrial policy. He’s embracing industrial policy in a way that Democrats have been wary of doing in the past, and we’ll see how that goes over.”