Intel Delays New Fab Location Announcements Until 2022

Intel was expected to announce the location of its next fabs before the end of the year, but the company has decided to delay the announcements until sometime in “early 2022”. This is not just related to its European expansion, but also its US expansion and it’s possible that this has something to do with the so-called CHIPS acts that both the EU and the US government are expected to announce.

It’s also possible that Intel is still negotiating with multiple parties, to see where the company can get the best deal, as well as making sure that the right partners are willing to set up their supporting infrastructure within a reasonable distance from Intel’s new fabs. As Intel is looking at investing upwards of US$100 billion per site over multiple years, it’s not hard to see why they want to make sure they’re making the right, long term decision. A few extra months might make a big difference a few years down the line, least not to make sure Intel can hire qualified staff to run its fabs, outside of everything else that goes into planning something like this.