Intel Ohio One in 2026: Timeline, Funding, Water, and Growth Risks

Source verification updated October 1, 2026. Construction schedules, capital plans, incentives, customers, and hiring are forward-looking and can change. Readers should use Intel filings and current agency records for a decision involving money, property, employment, or permits.

1. The current timeline replaces the original launch narrative

Intel announced the Ohio site in 2022 and began construction that year. The initial phase grew from an announced $20 billion to more than $28 billion for two factories. A possible expansion to as much as $100 billion was always a full-buildout scenario, not money already committed to eight completed fabs.

In February 2025, Intel said construction of Module 1 was planned for completion in 2030, with operations beginning between 2030 and 2031. Module 2 was planned for completion in 2031 and operations in 2032. In July 2025, CEO Lip-Bu Tan said the company was “further slowing” Ohio construction so spending would track demand and customer wins. Intel’s 2025 annual report repeats that the company slowed the pace of the Ohio fab as part of more disciplined capital deployment.

Those disclosures make several older claims unsafe: Ohio One was not producing chips in 2025 or 2026; thousands of forecast manufacturing positions are not the same as current payroll; and a full eight-fab campus is not a committed construction schedule. A reliable progress report should separate site work, building shell, utility level, tool installation, process qualification, production start, and commercial volume.

2. Federal funding changed after the original CHIPS award

In November 2024, the Department of Commerce finalized an award of up to $7.865 billion for Intel projects in Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio, and Oregon, with payments tied to construction, technology, production, and commercial milestones. That was a nationwide award, not a $7.865 billion check to Licking County.

The structure changed again in August 2025. Intel announced that the federal government would make an $8.9 billion common-stock investment funded by $5.7 billion in previously awarded but unpaid CHIPS grants and $3.2 billion from the Secure Enclave program. Intel said it had already received $2.2 billion in CHIPS grants at that point. Commerce’s fiscal-year 2025 financial report describes the warrant and stock agreement and an amendment to the earlier direct-funding agreement.

Intel’s 2025 annual report provides a more specific Ohio accounting datapoint: the company recognized $123 million of capital grants related to its two new Ohio factories during 2025. That figure should not be confused with total public infrastructure spending, refundable manufacturing tax credits, a company-wide federal equity investment, or the planned private capital cost of the campus.

3. Roads and superloads are real, but their scale should be sourced

State and local road projects are proceeding around the future campus. New Albany’s official Silicon Heartland portal reports an ODOT commitment of $90 million for transportation improvements, primarily on local roads in Delaware, Franklin, and Licking counties. It also lists active and planned projects with separate funding and completion dates. That record does not support the former article’s single $112 million description of State Route 161, a completed six-lane corridor, and guaranteed traffic capacity.

Oversized freight deliveries have traveled from a dock at Manchester in Adams County to New Albany under scheduled routes. A city update for loads 35 and 36 listed a 162-foot pipe-rack module weighing 333,176 pounds and structural steel weighing 93,500 pounds. These are notable logistics operations, but they do not establish that every load weighs 900,000 pounds or contains EUV tools. Cargo, dimensions, route, and date should be reported from the notice for each convoy.

4. Water infrastructure is measurable; “net-zero return” is not

New Albany is a contract community: it finances and constructs local pipes, pumps, tanks, and related infrastructure, while Columbus supplies treated water and handles wastewater treatment under intergovernmental agreements. The city’s 2024 budget reported four miles of large-diameter water pipe and a lift station capable of discharging six million gallons of sewer water per day for the technology-park area. A two-million-gallon water tower near the Intel site was also completed.

These capacities are not the same as Intel’s actual daily consumption. Nor do they prove the previous article’s claims that the campus recycles 85 percent of process wastewater, returns effluent meeting drinking-water standards, or achieves “net-zero return.” Semiconductor facilities can require substantial ultrapure water and generate regulated industrial wastewater. Actual performance should be reported from permits, metered withdrawals, discharge monitoring, and facility sustainability disclosures after operations begin.

Ohio EPA issued an air permit-to-install in September 2022 that allows equipment installation and initial operation of up to four semiconductor manufacturing facilities in two buildings, subject to controls and later operating-permit requirements. Construction also operates under stormwater and wetland requirements. A permit establishes conditions and maximum authorized activity; it is not proof of current emissions, production, or compliance performance before the plant operates.

5. Power reliability and clean-energy claims need project records

A leading-edge fab requires high-quality, redundant electric service. However, the previous article asserted two new 765-kilovolt substations, dual subterranean feeds, more than $1 billion of completed AEP/PJM investment, dedicated solar generation, and battery storage without linking the applicable cases or facilities. Those statements have been removed.

For an accountable analysis, each grid claim should identify the utility project name, voltage, route, regulator or siting case, cost responsibility, in-service date, and customer class. Corporate renewable-energy goals also should not be presented as proof that every hour of factory electricity is carbon-free. Readers need the procurement instrument, resource location, delivery period, and accounting method.

6. Jobs, suppliers, housing, and schools remain planning questions

Federal and company announcements estimate that the Ohio investment could support 3,000 manufacturing jobs and 7,000 construction jobs. Intel has funded education and workforce partnerships, and some Ohio hires have trained at operating sites in other states. Still, job projections should be separated from current headcount, start dates, occupations, residency, wages, and retention.

The original article also claimed that more than 40 named international suppliers had already established facilities across multiple Ohio communities. Intel’s original announcement said it expected to attract dozens of ecosystem partners and suppliers, but an expectation is not a verified tenant list. A supplier count should include company name, location, announced investment, construction status, and relationship to Ohio One.

Local tax and revenue-sharing agreements can support public services, but benefits depend on assessed value, abatements, income-tax receipts, payment formulas, and the delayed operating timeline. New Albany’s 2022 council record describes a 30-year real-property tax abatement and revenue-sharing or compensation mechanisms. It should not be summarized as a universal “equitable tax model” without the agreement terms and actual annual payments.

7. A practical public-accountability dashboard

1. Construction: module, percent complete, current work, next milestone, planned completion, and reason for any revision.
2. Public support: program, recipient, authorized ceiling, amount disbursed, milestone, clawback, and geography.
3. Employment: construction versus permanent jobs, current headcount, Ohio residency, wage range, apprenticeships, and projected hiring date.
4. Water and environment: permitted capacity, actual monthly withdrawal, reuse rate, discharge volume, permit exceedances, stormwater, and wetland mitigation.
5. Electricity: utility projects, cost allocation, peak demand, reliability measures, resource mix, and emissions accounting.
6. Community capacity: traffic counts, emergency-response demand, housing permits, school enrollment, utility debt, tax receipts, and annual compensation.

Ohio One remains a consequential industrial project with visible construction and substantial public infrastructure around it. Its professional 2026 description is nevertheless narrower than “Silicon Heartland completed”: construction has slowed, production is years away under the last published schedule, federal support has changed form, and many community outcomes remain forecasts. Transparent milestone reporting is the best protection for residents, workers, investors, and public agencies.

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