Has Intel gone too far with its Ohio fab 'delay' stunt? The way Intel has been talking about the status of its $20 billion Ohio fab project, you would be forgiven if you assumed that construction on the Midwest mega-site has been delayed in light of Congress struggling to pass a large subsidies package that would support new American chip factories. When Intel delayed a …
Intel was clear that it was just postponing the ceremony, not the actual construction. If the so called journalists cannot parse the details, it is their problem, not Intel's.
As for sticking to the plan, and not actually delaying the construction start date:
That's how you distinguish a serious business from an exploitative one.
Intel would sure love the subsidies, but they seem to understand that they need the facility no matter what.
And this is good news for the government, as it is much more likely the (eventual) subsidies will actually be used for the stated purpose, and not just squandered in a minimal showcase.
>If the so called journalists cannot parse the details, it is their problem, not Intel's.<
Unless your PR department manages to send out a press statement that the press feels is reasonably safe to post with only rearranging a few words you are prone to be surprised by what the press makes of it.
Even chances on the surprise being pleasant or not amusing you much.
It sounds like Intel was able to create a tempest in a teapot for local politicians over national issues by blatant misrepresentation. Yet another corporation taking to bullying governments.
As I recall, when the government starts taking part in a pissing contest it is usually at a personal level. Gelsinger better hope his asbestos suit works as well as advertised. Since Gelsinger cost the local government funds to calm the aforementioned tempest his tantrum (over not receiving gifts he *really* wanted) caused, I think he should personally receive a bill for it. God help him if there was an abusive personality in the presidency, but then he probably wouldn't have tried that stunt if he expected serious and immediate consequences. Another poster child for corporal punishment.
Intel is throwing off umpteen BILLION in cash every QUARTER. They no more need taxpayer assistance than a kraken. ANY tax incentive to ANY company bigger than a mom & pop operation is a waste of taxpayer money. The companies have learned how to play off the governments' greed and idiocy. I spent 10 years sitting on tax incentive review boards. Cases in point. Ford wanted $125,000 in tax breaks for a several hundred million dollar expansion of a transmission plant for American cars. The only other plants that could build that tranny were in Saarland (France) and Brazil. Jergens hand lotions wanted a huge tax break for their headquarters and main plant which would have been economically impossible to replace. A company that held the patents for a process to integrate bottle labels into the plastic bottles wanted thousands of breaks for the one and only plant for "expected" growth. Tax breaks only fatten Wall Street's pockets 99% of the time.
Hello:
ANY tax incentive to ANY company bigger than a mom & pop operation is a waste of taxpayer money.
Finally, some common sense.
In the US and all over the world, the same thing.
Not to mention the outrageous bailouts to those who were/are too big to fail after effectively failing while playing craps with loaded dice and other people's money.
Get the fucking shareholders put up the moolah and invest in a new fab if they want to stay in business and earn money instead of paying ridiculous dividends and off-shoring their facilities.
Not Friday yet but still, have one on me --->
O.
Taxes on imports while building facilities at home will not bring the jobs back anything more than on a temporary basis. It is a chicken and egg situation and the only real winners are those creaming off the subsidies.
There is little to stop you taking the subsidies today, getting loads of high tech hardware at home then shipping it to China. See MG-Rover for prime example of that happening when entire factories of brand new machine tools and robotics were up-sticked in favour of offshoring production.
Only where national security comes at stake do people really take an interest in at-home at any cost. Government haven't quite figured out yet that computers at home are a national security requirement, every bit as much as tanks, planes and warships.
So do you pay the subsidy endlessly to keep it here?
Meh, I'm in a foul mood and thinking about offshoring will only make me even more annoyed. Beer time it is!
I've been buying AMD lately and will continue to do so. I prefer their GPUs for their Linux support. That is the open source drivers work good enough for me, something I can't say about Intel.
But what galls me is Intel investing money in a wing nut anti-choice state. And good luck with this carving out a state of the art fab in the middle of nowhere.
A wafer fab is a combination of a formula and systems integration. The "systems" is all the hardware and every bit of hardware needs vendor support. So now AMSL is forced to open a shop Ohio? Or do they set up a few field techs and depend on FedEx. Then there are the specialty gases, yada yada yada. If intel was really serious about this fab they would put it in a city with an existing fab.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
