Intel Arizona Fab 62 Begins Tool Install, Operations Due by 2028

Intel Arizona operations have reached a new stage: the company has started installing manufacturing tools at Fab 62, its sixth high-volume chip factory at the Ocotillo campus in Chandler, and expects the plant to begin operations by the end of 2028. Naga Chandrasekaran, executive vice president and chief technology and operations officer of Intel Foundry, confirmed the milestone in a post on Intel’s newsroom on October 21.

“Construction and tool installation at Fab 62 are now fully underway, and we expect operations to begin by the end of 2028,” Chandrasekaran wrote. It is the first time Intel has publicly shared construction progress and a timeline for the project, according to ABC15 Arizona.

What Tool Installation Means for Intel Arizona

Tool installation is one of the last big steps before a fab can make chips. Lithography, etch, deposition and inspection equipment now has to be moved in, connected and qualified before production wafers can run. That process usually takes many months, which fits the late 2028 target.

Fab 62 will sit next to Fab 52, which already makes Intel’s Panther Lake and Clearwater Forest processors on the Intel 18A process. That node combines RibbonFET gate-all-around transistors with PowerVia backside power delivery and entered high-volume manufacturing in 2025.

What Intel Has Not Said Yet

Intel has not disclosed which process node Fab 62 will run, how many wafers it will produce or how much it will cost. Industry reports point to an 18A variant such as 18A-P or the next-generation Intel 14A node, but the company has not confirmed either.

In the same post, Chandrasekaran said the first major structural truss has been installed on the first fab at the long-delayed Ohio One site in New Albany. He also noted that Intel was the first to put a commercial High NA EUV lithography system into high-volume manufacturing in Oregon, and that the company works with more than 4,500 US suppliers, spending over $29 billion a year in the country.

Why It Matters

The update comes as Intel tries to win outside customers for its foundry business. Its third quarter results showed strong data center growth but a weak outlook, so investors are watching whether new capacity is backed by real orders.

Packaging is another draw: Nvidia is reportedly considering Intel’s Foveros technology for future chips, and Intel says it runs advanced packaging research and assembly in Arizona as well.

Fab 62 also keeps Arizona at the center of US chipmaking, where TSMC is expanding its own Phoenix site. If Intel hits its 2028 date, the Ocotillo campus will have six high-volume fabs competing for the same AI and PC chip demand.