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"largest investment in Ohio's history" "the largest semiconductor manufacturing location on the planet" What is it that makes Ohio such a key and ideal place f

"largest investment in Ohio's history" "the largest semiconductor manufacturing location on the planet" What is it that makes Ohio such a key and ideal place for such a massive investment? I assume there must be an abundance of energy + work force + land available that makes this possible, as well as a foundation built up by the Rust Belt. Could the Rust Belt go Silicon?

thehappypm 5y ago
Ohio has a good mix. It’s in a low cost of living area with a business friendly climate, being economically depressed, Intel gets lots of perks. Workforce is cheaper than elsewhere due to lower COL. There’s lots of water nearby. And, there’s the potential for talent with the many universities in the area.
titzer 5y ago
That and incredible tax breaks. I'm originally from neighboring Indiana. The midwest should have figured this out long ago, but political corruption, the coal lobby, and a lack of imagination has really blinkered the long-term planning there.
- vgeek 5y ago
  New Albany has a lot of corporate headquarters relative to the size of the city, even when you exclude the Les Wexner (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Wexner https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Wexner) companies. Big Lots, Red Roof Inn and Bob Evans are the most prominent, but there are lots of other major companies with measurable presence (one of the two AWS US-EAST-2 DCs & a FB DC), too. From looking at the town's operating plan, The New Albany Company (a planned community, where Wexner & friends have/can buy up all of the swampy farmland they want and grow the city limits as necessary) already have lots of land (both for C&I and residential) and can offer tax breaks/rebates that can't be matched for corporations, instead relying more on the taxes from the residential developments of $500k+ homes (probably 1.5-2x MSA median) in the area (if you want to see a gerrymandered map, look up New Albany-- it is very deliberate in excluding multi-family developments from the city limits).
encryptluks2 5y ago
While I think that chipset factories require some valuable tech skills, much of the work is factory-based skilled labor work that is usually low to middle-class income. Ohio is probably ideal for this work because they have had a lot of factory closures where cost-of-living is a lot cheaper than West coast, and $35-40k per annum is considered good income to a lot of people there.
alsaaro 5y ago
It's land. This plant is being built in a rural community right outside of Columbus.
jaystraw 5y ago
New Albany seems situated nicely for domestic distribution, and also European distribution as it's about 150 miles from Cleaveland. Maybe there's another port it's closer to, I don't know much about Ohio. But if Intel can get chips to Europe more quickly than its Asian rivals, I can see that being a boon for them.
- justin66 5y ago
  The site where they are building is half an hour away from an international airport, Columbus is a shipping hub, and it's tied in well with the interstate highway system. With all due respect to the Port of Cleveland, which is mostly focused on raw materials and heavy machinery as far as I can tell, that stuff is probably more of a factor.
- selimthegrim 5y ago
  >Cleaveland Props for sticking to the original spelling
blihp 5y ago
Tax breaks + cheap land + low cost local labor + business friendly local government + good PR. Geographically it's reasonably centrally located from a transportation standpoint to the rest of the U.S. and has access to lots of water.

thehappypm 5y ago

Ohio has a good mix. It’s in a low cost of living area with a business friendly climate, being economically depressed, Intel gets lots of perks. Workforce is cheaper than elsewhere due to lower COL. There’s lots of water nearby. And, there’s the potential for talent with the many universities in the area.

titzer 5y ago

That and incredible tax breaks. I'm originally from neighboring Indiana. The midwest should have figured this out long ago, but political corruption, the coal lobby, and a lack of imagination has really blinkered the long-term planning there.

vgeek 5y ago
New Albany has a lot of corporate headquarters relative to the size of the city, even when you exclude the Les Wexner (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Wexner https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Wexner) companies. Big Lots, Red Roof Inn and Bob Evans are the most prominent, but there are lots of other major companies with measurable presence (one of the two AWS US-EAST-2 DCs & a FB DC), too. From looking at the town's operating plan, The New Albany Company (a planned community, where Wexner & friends have/can buy up all of the swampy farmland they want and grow the city limits as necessary) already have lots of land (both for C&I and residential) and can offer tax breaks/rebates that can't be matched for corporations, instead relying more on the taxes from the residential developments of $500k+ homes (probably 1.5-2x MSA median) in the area (if you want to see a gerrymandered map, look up New Albany-- it is very deliberate in excluding multi-family developments from the city limits).

encryptluks2 5y ago

While I think that chipset factories require some valuable tech skills, much of the work is factory-based skilled labor work that is usually low to middle-class income. Ohio is probably ideal for this work because they have had a lot of factory closures where cost-of-living is a lot cheaper than West coast, and $35-40k per annum is considered good income to a lot of people there.

alsaaro 5y ago

It's land. This plant is being built in a rural community right outside of Columbus.

jaystraw 5y ago

New Albany seems situated nicely for domestic distribution, and also European distribution as it's about 150 miles from Cleaveland. Maybe there's another port it's closer to, I don't know much about Ohio. But if Intel can get chips to Europe more quickly than its Asian rivals, I can see that being a boon for them.

justin66 5y ago
The site where they are building is half an hour away from an international airport, Columbus is a shipping hub, and it's tied in well with the interstate highway system. With all due respect to the Port of Cleveland, which is mostly focused on raw materials and heavy machinery as far as I can tell, that stuff is probably more of a factor.
selimthegrim 5y ago
>Cleaveland Props for sticking to the original spelling

blihp 5y ago

Tax breaks + cheap land + low cost local labor + business friendly local government + good PR. Geographically it's reasonably centrally located from a transportation standpoint to the rest of the U.S. and has access to lots of water.