Intel announced its intention to invest more than $28 billion in the construction of two new semiconductor factories in Ohio, USA. This will be the next step towards developing a business related to contract manufacturing of chips, which will also help increase competition in this segment with Taiwan’s TSMC. Against this background, Intel shares rose in price by 2%, but compared to the beginning of the year they are now still 55% cheaper.
Contract chip manufacturing is central to CEO Pat Gelsinger’s strategy to lead Intel out of its slump. As part of this strategy, Intel, once an industry leader, is trying to regain the technological advantage it lost to Taiwanese contract chipmaker TSMC.
The announcement of the new manufacturing facility comes a month after Intel signed a multibillion-dollar contract with Amazon to build AI chips for the e-commerce giant’s cloud services division. At the same time, Intel stated that at the initial stage of the new project, 3,000 jobs will be created.
It’s been a turbulent year for Intel. The chipmaker suspended dividend payments, cut staff and unexpectedly fired a high-ranking board member. In addition, the decline in the company’s stock price threatened Intel’s continued presence in the Dow Jones index.