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Comment by pers0n | Hacker News Reader

Ohio, Oregon, New Mexico and Arizona

I find it somewhat strange it is spread out like this. I understand Arizona and Oregon as they are both current Intel Fabs location. New Mexico for historic reason and they had a Fab there and expanding a new Fab 9 with Fab 11. ( Why it was there in the first place is beyond me )

But Ohio? Why another location?

I think because 1) there is abundant water 2) it gives Intel access to a lot of talent from the Midwest (all the universities there) 3) it gives Intel two more Senators who can lobby for them.

I think you are asking why Intel had factories in New Mexico, right? In the 1980s, they were expanding and one of their criteria was being less than a 2 hr long flight away from Santa Clara. That’s how they got started in Aloha, OR, Chandler, AZ and New Mexico.

Fabs need a lot of water. Do those states have water to spare?

I can certainly tell you that AZ had unregulated water usage which was exploited to grow alfalfa and ship that to Saudi Arabia.

Existing designs certain do depends on how they are designed on whether they recycle their own gray water - TSMC is heading that way, they are aiming for >60% by 2030 because of the water drought they had a few years ago.

You'd hope a newly designed plant would be more water efficient from the start.

Ohio yes, Oregon yes (Columbia River).

Which is a statement about their evaluation of their relative economic prospects in California, where they're headquartered.

Well, I'm sure it's a lot cheaper to build a new fab in Ohio than CA and the other three states are expansions of existing fabs. In spite of being HQd in CA, Intel doesn't even have a full fab there for whatever combination of reasons.

Does Ohio have the right skills in its labor market though, or will Intel be building from scratch? With the other locations, they already have fans in the area and expanding a workforce is easier than building it from nothing.

Ohio’s labor, land, and water are definitely cheaper. And it’s seismically stable.

I wonder if there is anything to do with ease of shipping there, either by rail or by Great Lakes + Erie Canal or St Lawrence river that make it ideal for Intel

I don't know the skills situation in Ohio although GlobalFoundries has a fab in upstate NY and is building a second one. They need specific skills of course, but they can also pay very well relative to the local market.

>Which is a statement about their evaluation of their relative economic prospects in California

How does this have anything to do with California economic prospects? Intel already has operations setup in most of those states for years/decades.

Someone correct me if I am wrong but I always had the impression that a lot of the labor required in these type of plants are technical blue collar work. You need a college degree, the pay is pretty good but most of it is advanced assembly line type of work. I suspect the labor pool in California is difficult.

LA and SF are too expensive both land and labor wise. The valley is all Ag. And SAC is ok but getting more expensive. Ignore other input costs I suspect labor is one of the drivers here since at the end of the day it is assembly line work.

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