Intel’s sprawling new Fab 52 in Chandler is not just big, it is now officially a local trophy project. The 2.9 million-square-foot plant on Intel’s Ocotillo campus has been named the Phoenix Business Journal’s Project of the Year, capping a roughly 3.5-year, crane-filled build that quite literally redrew parts of Chandler’s skyline and rewired regional supply chains.
Project of the year recognition
According to the Phoenix Business Journal, Fab 52 was selected as the outlet’s Project of the Year on June 26, 2026, and is part of roughly $32 billion in investment at Intel’s Chandler campus. The Business Journal notes that Intel fabs typically employ between 1,000 and 3,000 workers, positioning Fab 52 as a long-term jobs anchor for the East Valley.
Scale and speed of the build
Engineering News-Record, which named Fab 52 its national Project of the Year earlier this spring, highlights just how outsized the job was: 2.9 million square feet overall, with about 685,000 square feet of cleanroom space, all delivered in roughly 3.5 years. At peak, crews used up to 55 cranes, cycled more than 31,000 craftworkers through the site, and poured hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of concrete to keep up with Intel’s accelerated schedule.
Offsite assembly and precision
Intel brought in Jacobs Engineering for design and Hoffman Construction to handle the build, leaning heavily on offsite modular assembly and prefabrication to hit that compressed timeline, according to Jacobs and the contractor’s project materials. Techniques such as preassembled slab penetrations and modular trestles let teams work around the ultra-precise tolerances that modern wafer tools demand, without slowing the overall pace of construction.
What the fab will make
Fab 52 is slated to run Intel’s most advanced logic node, Intel 18A, and to turn out next-generation client and server platforms such as Panther Lake and Clearwater Forest, as outlined in the Intel Newsroom and reporting by DatacenterDynamics. The company began commercial operations at the site in October 2025, so the local accolades are landing after the fab has already moved into full production.
Local ripple effects
To support the plant, the project added a new substation, ultra-pure water systems, and on-site wastewater treatment, infrastructure upgrades that city materials say will shape future development in and around Ocotillo. City economic summaries and Intel community reports place the two-fab expansion at roughly $32 billion, and note that the buildout is expected to fuel supplier contracts, workforce training programs, and regional hiring for years to come.
