Tool move-in is under way at Fab 62 on Intel’s Ocotillo campus near Phoenix, with output scheduled for early 2028. Fab 52 next door is already running 18A wafers at high volume, and almost all of that output goes into Intel’s own processors because no large outside customer has signed up yet.
Across the country, crews in New Albany, Ohio have lifted the first major structural roof truss, which lets construction go vertical. Naga Chandrasekaran, who heads Intel Foundry, described both steps as progress toward more domestic leading-edge capacity.
The dates put that progress in perspective. When Intel announced Ohio in 2022, it promised chips from the site in 2025. Completion is now targeted for 2030, with a second fab there in 2031. Equipping a plant is the most expensive part of the build, and single tools run into the hundreds of millions of dollars, so starting tool move-in is a real commitment of capital.
It also fits a different posture. Chief executive Lip-Bu Tan, in the job since March 2025, has said expensive sites move only when orders justify them. His predecessor, Pat Gelsinger, built first and hoped customers arrived.
The opportunity is real even so. Buyers are fighting for wafer starts at TSMC, and analysts note that chip designers want a credible second source to keep pricing honest. Intel has the metal rising. It still does not have the purchase orders that would make either plant pay for itself.
