Moreno Presses Intel For Update on Factory in Ohio

WASHINGTON - Today, Senator Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) penned a letter to Intel's Chief Executive Officer Lip-Bu Tan requesting an update on the delay of the $20 billion semiconductor factory that Intel agreed to build in New Albany, Ohio.

"It is my responsibility to ensure that the ratepayers and taxpayers in the state of Ohio are not being taken advantage of and to ensure that this investment is not a charade or worse potential fraud," wrote Senator Moreno. "Ohio has consistently stepped up to support Intel. Intel must provide answers now. Time is of the essence."

Read the letter HERE or below.

September 26, 2025

Lip-Bu Tan

Chief Executive Officer

Intel

Robert Noyce Building

2200 Mission College Boulevard

Santa Clara, CA, 95054

Dear Mr. Tan,

I write today to request an update on the status of the two $20 billion semiconductors factories your company promised to build in New Albany nearly four years ago and that were initially set to open this year. Unfortunately, the site's development is nowhere near where your company said it would be. This was the largest investment in Ohio's history and was initially projected to create 3,000 Intel jobs and 7,000 construction jobs over the course of building the two factories. The development of the factories was also going to supposedly "support tens of thousands of additional local long-term jobs across a broad ecosystem of suppliers and partners." Your company estimated that after the two factories were built, the investment in the factories could grow to as much as $100 billion in ten years, making it one of the largest manufacturing sites in the world.

State and local officials moved mountains to assist your company in achieving the company proclaimed original timeline for opening in 2025. Ohio gave your company $2 billion worth of public incentives and developed significant newly constructed public infrastructure amounting to at least $691 million. Yet, in 2024, Intel announced that it was cutting 30 percent of its workforce, delaying the project a second time, and that the first factory would not open until 2030 at the earliest-five years after the publicly announced original opening of 2025. Unfortunately for the state of Ohio and the local community in Licking County, your company announced in July that Intel was going to further delay the pace of the project. The taxpayers of Ohio deserve accurate and thorough information about the status of the enormous promises that your company made to our citizens and return on investment, or lack thereof, of the taxpayers' investment in this project.

Additionally, I request that your company cease from continuing to pass additional infrastructure costs to the ratepayers in Ohio due to a lack of efficient use of your excess power. As you know, Meta requested that your company temporarily reassign approximately 200MW of power for its use. Given the continuous delays in the project, it is in the best interest of Ohio's hardworking taxpayers to offset any infrastructure costs by reassigning remaining power that is not utilized by Intel to entities who are interested in utilizing it, such as Meta.

It is my responsibility to ensure that the ratepayers and taxpayers in the state of Ohio are not being taken advantage of and to ensure that this investment is not a charade or worse potential fraud. Ohio has consistently stepped up to support Intel. Intel must provide answers now. Time is of the essence.

Therefore, I respectfully request that you provide the following information to my office no later than ten business days of receipt of this letter:

• A thorough and detailed update on the status of the Ohio Intel project;
• A projected timeline for the Ohio Intel project;
• An outline of the tangible and fiscal impact the delays are having on the citizens of Ohio;
• A proposal for how Intel can mitigate any expense the delays are costing the state of Ohio and its taxpayers; and
• Your plans for temporarily assigning power to Meta within than 30 days.

Sincerely,

BERNIE MORENO
United States Senator