DAYTON — The groundbreaking for the $20 billion Intel semiconductor plant in central Ohio promises to create a potentially seismic economic ripple that will reach the Miami Valley.
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“When people ask me how big of a deal this is, it’s huge,” Jeff Hoagland, Dayton Development Coalition president and CEO told News Center 7′s John Bedell on Wednesday.
“The next question people usually ask is well how is that going to impact, you know, fill in the blank: Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton, Toledo, Akron? And it’s going to impact all of us in a good way,” he said.
Intel — the largest private sector investment in Ohio history and the company’s largest facility in the world — will boost the bottom line of small companies throughout the Buckeye state that work with Intel.
“There’s 140-some suppliers in Ohio and part of the strategy is to grow those companies and attract new ones,” Hoagland said.
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One example is QQE, a semiconductor maker in Beavercreek Twp.
“They were already doing the work. Doing a lot of it,” Hoagland said. “But with Intel coming to Ohio, their work is just going to massively grow.”
QQE officials gave members of Ohio’s congressional delegation and Gov. Mike DeWine a tour of their facility Tuesday.
“What’s going on in Beavercreek is a great example of the importance of Intel. This is a supplier to a supplier of Intel,” Hoagland said. “The other great thing is this is a company that actually moved from California right here to the Miami Valley creating jobs here.”
Hoagland said Intel and its suppliers will also look to academic institutions throughout the state, from high schools to career centers to colleges and universities, to recruit for their workforces.
“Having Intel come to Ohio is huge,” Hoagland said.
The White House said President Joe Biden will be among the dignitaries who will attend Intel’s groundbreaking in Columbus. DeWine and a number of state and local officials are scheduled to attend Friday’s event as well.
The plant will be situated 30 minutes northeast of downtown Columbus in the suburb of New Albany in Licking County. Construction is to start later this year, according to Intel. By the time that production comes online in 2025, it will cost $20 billion and employ 3,000 at an average salary of $135,000 each.
Company officials have said the project is expected to create an additional 7,000 construction jobs and 10,000 indirect jobs. Intel officials also have said there are plans to expand the project to as much as $100 billion over a decade. That would make it one of the largest semiconductor manufacturing sites on the planet.
The ceremonial groundbreaking originally was scheduled to occur in July, but was delayed because of uncertainty about whether Congress could pass legislation providing billions of dollars in grants and other incentives for the semiconductor industry. Congress passed that legislation, the CHIPS and Science Act. Biden signed it in late July.
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