Trump's attack on CEO could worsen Intel's struggles to build factories

At the end of July, Governor Mike DeWine of Ohio said Intel's chief executive was "very, very optimistic" about the company's plans to build multibillion-dollar semiconductor factories in his state.

- Farah Stockman

Over the past week, US President Donald Trump attacked the tech executive, and a Republican senator called for an investigation into delays surrounding Intel's massive construction project outside Columbus.

Mr. Trump demanded on Aug. 7 that Mr. Tan Lip-Bu, Intel's new CEO, resign over his past ties to Chinese companies, adding to the woes of a company that Mr. DeWine and other senior figures in Ohio's Republican Party had said would help create a manufacturing boom and turn the state into a "Silicon Heartland."

To help build its Ohio factories, Intel received commitments worth roughly US$1.5 billion (S$1.9 billion) in federal funding in recent years, as well as a US$2 billion incentive package from the state.

The project has been badly delayed, and the chipmaker said in 2025 that the factories would not be operational until at least 2030.

The company's challenges in Ohio highlight the risks that federal and state officials took when they financially backed Intel, a once-powerful force in chip manufacturing, an industry now dominated by the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).

Intel's situation is also indicative of the struggles the Trump administration will face as it tries—through the pressure of tariffs and threats from the White House—to shift the bulk of semiconductor production to the US from Asia.

When the Biden administration offered financial incentives through the Chips Act, Intel was one of the few American companies that it made sense to back.

But whether by stick or carrot, forcing this transition could prove extraordinarily difficult, as the delays around the Ohio project demonstrate.