JPR had the opportunity to visit Intel’s Arizona campus, where Intel 18A manufacturing is occurring at Fab 52. The site is massive. Intel hosted the press tour during its Intel Tech Tour 2025.
David Harold at Intel’s Ocotillo campus. (Source: JPR)
We were invited to Intel’s Arizona campus during Intel’s Tech Tour 2025, where Fab 52 is now home to Intel 18A manufacturing. Security was tight, and we were only allowed photos from outside—no inside shots. Still, the scale is unmistakable: a site that spans roughly a square mile, the latest addition in a build-out that’s seen tens of billions poured into Ocotillo, including the twin Fab 52/62 expansion.
From the perimeter, you get hints of the infrastructure it takes to run something like this: pipes crisscrossing to water and utilities plants, and that vast on-site treatment setup Intel runs with the city of Chandler—part of a system designed to recycle millions of gallons per day. They also sell the reclaimed salt, apparently to foodies.
Intel Arizona Fab 52. (Source: Intel)
We got the classic bunny-suit tour in groups of five to six, which took Intel all week to usher 180-plus press and analysts through, and did witness 18A being made—tools moving, lots in flight—which at least answers the “Is it real?” question (it is). No one would talk about yields. Not surprising.
What do we think?
Our experience tracks with modern leading-edge fabs: The machines are enormous, and there are very few people. The choreography is mostly automated—shuttles, schedulers, recipe servers—so being inside can feel weirdly spooky, like the building is running itself and humans are just there to dust (I mean, not really, as air passes through from ceiling to floor, continually removing all the old air and any particles every few minutes). Intel’s footprint in Arizona is decades deep. The investment numbers, campus size, and water infrastructure all reinforce that this is 18A production at scale. As for 14A… nothing much was being said except that Intel believes they know how to get there from the current R&D-level production.
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