The most important goal of the Act was to restore the US to being a manufacturer of leading edge logic ICs.
That meant restoring Intel to being a manufacturer if leading edge logic ICs because it’s the only US company with a plan to make them.
Although due $19.5 billion in grants and loans under the Act, Intel has not so far received any of it.
The Catch-22 is that the officials charged with handing out Chips Act money won’t hand it out until Intel shows progress on building infrastructure but Intel can’t economically build and equip new fabs during a slump in chip demand.
According to Bloomberg, Intel is frustrated with delays on receiving the funding while the officials are delaying payments because Intel is not giving them required information on its manufacturing road map.
The deadlock is similar to the one encountered during the process on deciding on the Chips Act award to Intel which was held up because of diversity and inclusion issues.
Intel’s position is: “We are making significant progress across our US projects in Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio and Oregon, and look forward to finalising our funding agreement soon.”
