It is all about the taxes
Intel has major fab facilities in Hillsboro, Oregon. The state of Oregon put a .57% tax on gross sales for businesses with over $1m in sales. It doesn't matter if the business is making money or losing money. Give $5,700 to the state for every $1m in sales.
I don't know how much of Intel's ~$77 billion in annual sales comes out of Oregon, but I will speculate it is a significant percentage. This tax starts to add up year over year. They are not going to rip out their existing fab plants, they will just let them age out over the next decade as the next generations of chips will be made in Ohio.
You can judge it as right or wrong, but you cannot blame a business for being smart in a fiscally hostile environment.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
