NEWARK — Students were ready when the future came. But the jobs were not.
Intel’s $28 billion semiconductor manufacturing project was supposed to bring a new industry — and ten of thousands of local jobs — to Central Ohio.
For the Central Ohio Technical College, that meant preparing students for a new industry.
Intel first announced the project in January 2022 with plans to build two semiconductor manufacturing facilities on a nearly 1,000-acre site in New Albany.
The first facility was expected to begin operations by 2025. In February 2024, the company pushed that timeline to 2026, then announced another delay a year later.
On Feb. 28, 2025, Naga Chandrasekaran, executive vice president, chief global operations officer and general manager of Intel Foundry Manufacturing announced completion dates had been pushed to 2030/31.
This delay has had lasting impacts on the surrounding communities, but perhaps no entity has been as affected as COTC.
COTC enters relationship with Intel
The public facing announcement in 2022 was the first time COTC learned about the plant, COTC President John Berry said. The college quickly adapted to develop an appropriate response to the thousands of technical jobs that would soon be open.
“Any of us that were in a 30-mile radius of the actual foundry needed to start to produce technician roles,” Berry said.
The response resulted in the two-year Semiconductor Manufacturing Engineering Technology degree.
About 80 percent of the necessary coursework already existed, Berry said, allowing COTC to focus on specific skills needed for the semiconductor manufacturing industry.
“We went into a very quick relationship with Intel, defining what do you need?” Berry said. “This was a new industry sector for all of us … this was in a field, semiconductor development, we didn’t do. We had to learn that very quickly.”
The college created four courses to address these needs, including clean room technology and vacuum systems. In the program, students also learn to troubleshoot, work in team environments and manage systems and processes.
Faculty members had to learn the systems, too. They went through training and professional development with Intel to bring this knowledge to the classroom.
But as the project’s timeline shifted, so has COTC’s approach to preparing its students.
The college’s current program still includes semiconductor-specific courses but there is an emphasis on skills that can be used across advanced manufacturing. The degree was renamed as Electromechanical Engineering Technology in Summer 2026.
This broader focus has allowed students to be flexible following Intel’s timeline change.
“Ninety percent of our students stay in the region in which they learn and live,” Berry said.
This means many students, originally expecting Intel as a potential employer, were left looking for jobs close to home.
Students seeking employment
Suddenly, finding an opportunity outside of Intel was the concern — including for Berry’s youngest son, who went through the program.
“The delay was a bit disappointing, but he’s been able to parlay this level of work into a myriad of different opportunities,” Berry said.
Other graduates of the program have a similar story.
Students have found employment at local legacy employers, such as the Ariel Corporation and Boeing, and in growing industries, such as data centers, defense manufacturing and solar manufacturing.
“Every one of our students that went through that program has found gainful employment,” Berry said.
‘A forced marriage’
The success of those students didn’t erase the lesson COTC learned from the experience.
“This was almost a forced marriage between the two parties. Intel was coming into the state, the state needed this to happen. We were the first to respond,” Berry said.
Looking back, Berry said the college’s ability to move quickly was one of the strongest parts of its response.
But that same ability became the college’s Achilles heel.
“When there was that a major emergency push — we have a short time frame to get this out — that seemed to make sense,” Berry said. “When that shifts (onto the) back burner, that’s really hard to justify — and our communities don’t respond well to that.”
When Intel’s timeline changed, COTC was left to explain to students and community why a program built around those anticipated jobs still had value.
Berry said that experience has also changed how COTC approaches relationships with companies moving into the region, including Anduril Industries.
A lesson learned
Anduril Industries’ Arsenal-1 facility opened and began production in March 2026. It’s located in Ashville, 44 miles away from COTC.
The facility is expected to have 4,000 employees by 2035.
Berry said COTC is maintaining a close, informed connection with Anduril to ensure the college can be ready to respond to the facility’s needs.
“We’re not getting into a shotgun marriage together, we’re going to date and we’re going to learn one another,” Berry said. “We’re going to build a relationship together over a period of time.”
Ultimately, COTC continues to prepare its students for industrial expansion into Central Ohio, while learning from the Intel delay.
“We are creating those opportunities in the community. When (Intel’s) not ready, then we look at other viability partners,” Berry said.
Knox Pages previously explored the impact of Intel semiconductor manufacturing facilities on communities through our project, Beyond the Chip.
