Intel, Anduril Pour $29 Billion Into Central Ohio Hub as AI and Defense Projects Cluster
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jun 5
Intel, Anduril Pour $29 Billion Into Central Ohio Hub as AI and Defense Projects Cluster
1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jun 5
Summary
$29 billion in Intel and Anduril projects is anchoring Central Ohio’s emergence as a major advanced-manufacturing and AI center, with Intel building a $28 billion chip fab and Anduril a $1 billion drone factory.
Columbus is drawing a wider tech buildout around those investments: Meta is developing a facility to train advanced AI models, and entrepreneurs say the region now feels like the Bay Area did more than a decade ago.
The shift caps a roughly 15-year transformation from an insurance-and-retail base into a tech corridor, helped by investors and executives who moved in early and are now expanding locally.
Residents and critics still question the public subsidies behind the projects and whether highly automated plants will create enough jobs to broadly lift longtime communities.