Ohio Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel said he remains confident Intel Corp. will complete its $28 billion semiconductor manufacturing plant in Licking County.
Tressel's comments came hours after U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno alleged that the company is failing to meet its commitment to Ohioans and questioned the CEO's ties to the Chinese government.
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Moreno accused CEO Lip-Bu Tan of having ties to the "CCP," an apparent reference to the Chinese Communist Party. The senator called on Tan to "immediately resign" and also said Ohio should conduct a fraud investigation into the executive.
When Tressel was asked about Tan's connection to China during a New Albany Amazon data center event Aug. 7, he said he didn't have information about a potential connection.
“I don't know exactly what the story is. Obviously, if someone's a part of the CCP, it's a problem in my mind. But I think you have to be fair until facts come out," he said. "You don't really know the story, and we're going to continue to have confidence that Intel's going to keep progressing."
Tressel said he remains confident that Intel will fulfill its promises to Ohio, despite Moreno's comments.
“Maybe some people have more information than others, but based upon the information I have — and I've been out there, I've seen the work they're doing — I know nothing that tells me that their intentions aren't good, but we'll see as facts come out,” he said.
But Tressel said he understands frustrations about project delays. Intel's first factory was initially scheduled to open in 2025, but the company told The Dispatch earlier this year that it had delayed the opening of its Ohio fabs until at least 2030 or 2031. In its July 24 second-quarter earnings report, company officials said Intel will further slow the pace of construction at its future Ohio microchip factories. It's unclear how the announcement will precisely affect Intel's opening date in Ohio.
"Big things are hard. Sometimes the progress doesn't happen like you’d like it to. Again, I don't know any other thing to do other than be confident that we're going to get this thing figured out. I don't know anything that tells me that's impossible," he said. "We'll go day by day as we get more information."
Tressel said he's still confident that the Silicon Heartland that Intel promised will still come to fruition.
“There's always bumps in the road, and there's always challenges. You have to see where the situation really is. You have to adjust," he said. "You're really measured by what you do going forward, and going forward from here, the facts will get on the table. We'll figure it out.”
Eastern Columbus suburbs reporter Maria DeVito can be reached at [email protected] and @mariadevito13.dispatch.com on Bluesky and @MariaDeVito13 on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel confident Intel will complete factories
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