75,000 tons

Article originally posted on Phoenix Business Journal on June 29, 2026

There were many commercial real estate success stories in the Valley over the past year, but perhaps no company operating in metro Phoenix was more omnipresent than Intel Corp.

Intel’s whirlwind 2025 included the arrival of a new CEO, management cuts, a deal with the federal government to take a 10% stake in the company and a $5 billion investment from Nvidia.

But it’s the company’s sprawling semiconductor campus in Chandler — where thousands are employed and billions have been invested — that promises to keep Intel front and center in Arizona for years to come.

That’s why Intel’s Fab 52, that opened last September, has been named Phoenix Business Journal’s Project of the Year, chosen from commercial real estate developments that were completed in 2025.

Intel’s Ocotillo campus is now home to the company’s most advanced semiconductor facility, which has ramped up to full production after opening last year.

In 2021, Intel broke ground on Fab 52, which will soon be the center of production for the company’s first high-volume commercial chip processors — Panther Lake and Clearwater Forest — on its advanced 18A process node.

Panther Lake represents Intel’s Core Ultra Series 3 processors for computers, while Clearwater Forest represents the company’s Xeon 6 processors for data centers, telecommunications and cloud computing hyperscalers.

Although Intel produces Panther Lake and Clearwater Forest at both of its fabs in Oregon and Arizona, the company’s Chandler campus is expected to play a greater role in development and manufacturing of the two processors in 2026, Kevin O’Buckley, former senior vice president and general manager of foundry services at Intel, told the Business Journal last year around the time of Fab 52’s opening.

“Over the next year, what will happen is more and more of that load will be here in Arizona. Our facility in Oregon has generally been our research and development center, and our site in Arizona is our largest manufacturing site in the company,” Buckley said at the time. “The two sites are ramping production now, particularly in the early stage. Then, as time goes on, Arizona will be the center for all of our manufacturing.”

Intel fab backed by CHIPS Act dollars

Fab 52, which spans 2.9 million square feet, is Intel’s fifth high-volume manufacturing plant at its 600-acre Ocotillo campus and part of a larger $100 billion investment by the company to expand its domestic operations.

In November 2024, federal officials finalized an agreement with Intel to award the company with a $7.8 billion CHIPS Act grant and 25% tax credit to support its semiconductor advanced packaging and manufacturing facilities in Arizona and three other states. Intel allocated $3.9 billion of its CHIPS Act grant to modernize Fab 42 and support construction of Fab 52 and Fab 62 at its Ocotillo campus, with an estimated project cost of $32 billion, according to the company.

“Intel’s more than 46-year presence in Arizona is central to our global manufacturing and supply chain footprint,” Zivit Katz-Tsameret, vice president and Fab 52 factory manager at Intel Foundry, said. “Fab 52, our newest facility, is a cornerstone of these operations and among the largest silicon process manufacturing sites in the world. It supports the high-volume production of cutting-edge semiconductor microchips built on Intel 18A — the industry’s most advanced process technology researched, developed and manufactured in the U.S.”

Oregon-based Hoffman Construction Co. was the contractor for Fab 52, while Jacobs was the lead design and engineering firm for the manufacturing plant.

To construct the facility, contractors removed more than 1 million cubic meters of soil and rock, equivalent to 400 Olympic size swimming pools. The facility is reinforced with 75,000 tons of steel and includes more than 9 million meters of installed cable, according to the company.

While Intel did not provide specific employment numbers for Fab 52, the company said its semiconductor fabs typically employ between 1,000 to 3,000 workers, including process engineers, equipment technicians and operational personnel who work in shifts to keep the facility running 24 hours a day.

Intel employs some 10,000 workers in Arizona, making it one the Valley’s largest employers.

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