IntelThe company announced Friday that it will invest $20 million in Ohio in two plants to produce advanced chips. This is the first step towards a mega-site, which can house eight more chip factories worth $100 billion.

It is expected that the planned investment would create 3,000 permanent and 7,000 construction jobs at the 1000-acre Licking County site, which lies just outside Columbus.

Intel’s Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger drives its expansion plans, particularly in Europe and America, to increase competition with international rivals as well as to address a global microchip shortage.

Gelsinger stated that the factories would create an “epicenter” for chipmaking in America, which will help to strengthen Intel’s domestic pipeline from lab to fab.

After chip shortages in the global market, chipmakers have been scrambling for more production. Intel is also trying to regain its status as the maker of small and fast chips, challenging TSMC (which is based in Taiwan).

Despite plans to open new factories, Intel will not be able to alleviate the demand crunch. Such complexes can take several years. Gelsinger stated that he expects the current shortage of chips to continue into 2023.

Intel opened two Arizona factories as part of its plan to transform itself into a leading manufacturer of chips outside of the US. Six Intel factories will now be located on its Phoenix campus, in Chandler. The total cost of the $20 billion plant is $26 billion.

According to President Joe Biden, Congress should approve $52 Billion to increase U.S. manufacturing of semiconductors. The Senate passed the measure in June. However, it is stuck in the House of Representatives.

Biden will make remarks on Friday about the U.S. government’s efforts to “increase the supply of semiconductors and make more in America” earlier, the White House stated.

Intel announced that Gelsinger would meet Biden later Friday at the White House.

Plans for the construction of the factories’ first two will be underway immediately. Production is expected to start in 2025. Construction should begin by 2022. Intel claimed.

For the first time in 2018, Samsung Electronics took over the top spot from Intel. Data from Gartner revealed that Intel fell to second place with 0.5% growth. This is the lowest rate of growth among top 25 vendors.