Chip foundries are enormous and the Intel plant in Ohio will be no exception. Naturally, building such facilities requires large masses of materials and planning, including road closures. However, it’s not every day diversions act in service of protecting an enormous 916,000lb super load.
Intel has been working on its Ohio plant since 2022, with production slated to begin in 2025. The company plans to produce future generations of its best CPUs, alongside designs from third parties. Team Blue still has plenty of work to do before its opens up the site for business. In the meantime, the company must wait for the arrival of super loads as they travel across the state. Simultaneously, Ohio residents must remain patient.
So, what is this super load? As reported by The Columbus Dispatch (via Tom’s Hardware), it’s a cold box. Naturally, this isn’t any normal chiller. In fact, is about 23ft tall, 20ft wide, 280ft long, and weighs in at a staggering 916,000lbs. To give you some context, that’s almost twice the weight of a Boeing 787 aeroplane (502,500lbs). Power lines and more will also need to be adjusted as the convoy progresses.
Given the enormity of this cargo, local authorities and Intel have worked together on transportation plans. However, this cold box is precious in both its cost and needs. In order to safely move it across state, the convoy will travel at parade speeds. That’s 5-10mph, maximum. Worse still, it won’t travel at night due to safety concerns. All of this has resulted in road closures totalling nine days.
The Ohio Department of Transportation has a page dedicated to detailing the daily route of the super load. If you happen to see it passing by, be sure to send us a snap or two. That’s the future of x86 processing on the back of those trucks!
The first Intel processors made in Ohio won’t be around for a few years yet. Still, the company has plenty in the pipeline coming from its other foundries. Both Lunar Lake and Arrow Lake are due to arrive later this year, alongside Xe2 GPUs (both integrated and discrete).