President Joe Biden arrives Sept. 9 to speak during a groundbreaking for a new Intel computer chip facility in New Albany, Ohio.
AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
As Intel takes advantage of the CHIPS Act to raise massive new semiconductor production sites in Ohio, other companies are making similar moves in other states.
Micron Technology Inc. announced plans this week to invest as much as $100 billion to build a semiconductor-manufacturing campus in New York state, the latest in what is being called “a wave” of chip production investments in the U.S. announced in the wake of CHIPS passage.
Texas Instruments also made public its own investment plans for a new plant in the Dallas area recently.
In January this year, Intel first unveiled its plan to invest at least $20 billion in chip-making capacity in two plants outside Columbus, employing some 3,000 workers long-term, in part to answer a global chip shortage that has affected more than one industry.
Intel last month broke ground for dual chip factories in Licking County. In that same week, several federal and state officials made a medium-sized Beavercreek manufacturer, Quality Quartz Engineering, the temporary center of the universe, all pointing to the company as an example of the commercial potential unleashed by Intel’s plans in Ohio.
Sen. Sherrod Brown visited Silfex Inc. in Springfield on Wednesday to discuss how the CHIPS Act is boosting Ohio businesses, including businesses that hope to position themselves as Intel suppliers.
Just in construction, the Intel project would mean some 5,000 building trades workers working for 10 years, and perhaps more, Brown has said.
“We have seen for a generation large corporations lobby Congress for trade agreements like NAFTA … that move jobs offshore,” Brown said in an interview Wednesday. “We’ve seen those same large corporations lobby Congress for tax breaks to move jobs in search of cheap labor.”
The CHIPS Act represented a “conscious decision” to “begin the work of reshoring these jobs” in America, he said.
“So this is sort of the beginning, the turnaround, to reindustrialize America,” the senator added. “That’s why I call it a new industrial policy — many of us have been calling for this for decades, and now we’re finally doing it.”
Silfex, a division of Lam Research Corp., makes the parts used in the equipment semiconductor manufacturers use to make chips.
“It’s clear that America’s reliance on foreign-made computer chips has become one of our nation’s most pressing national security concerns, and it threatens the future competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers — in Ohio and every other state,” said Ryan Augsburger, president of the Ohio Manufacturing Association. “By enacting the CHIPS Act, federal policymakers demonstrated they could set aside partisan differences to tackle the most serious economic and geopolitical challenges.”
“While the federal legislation is playing a valuable role in this new development, it’s still just an incentive. The private sector — whether it’s Intel, Micron, or another company — is taking the risk and making the investment,” he added.
Eaton-based Silfex has continued to grow its Springfield workforce since it first announced plans to expand into the area in 2017. By the end of 2021, it had surpassed its initial goal of having 400 people committed to the Springfield facility.
