Oh, to have been a fly on the wall when Gov. Mike DeWine, leaders of the Ohio Department of Development and JobsOhio learned the “well, actually …” that should have been attached to news a couple of weeks ago that Intel was going to “further slow the pace of construction in Ohio.” It was a red flag then that the company did not announce a new expected completion date.

Now we know why. According to a report by WCMH, Intel also said it might have to stop work on the Ohio facility altogether if it cannot find external customers for its new 14A technology, which will not even debut until 2027.

Right now, Intel is its own largest customer — well, Intel Products is Intel Foundry’s largest customer. And though Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan says he is hopeful there will be enough external customers for 14A to carry on in Ohio, WCMH points out Intel Products sometimes uses external manufacturers, rather than go with Intel Foundry.

If even the other half of its own company doesn’t always trust it to get the job done, and the external customers Intel would be trying to bring on board are often also Intel’s direct competitors, it’s hard not to wonder whether Tan’s hopefulness is just for show.

After all, Tan also told WCMH Intel will only invest in Foundry expenses if there is a clear market for them. That includes the facility we were promised in New Albany.

No updated timeline for completion of construction (and hiring of the thousands of people promised), then; but now a clearer picture of the reason for the delay and the realities facing Intel and its 14A technology.

If state officials are not already working feverishly to get back the hundreds of millions of our money that was thrown at Intel, they’d better get to it immediately.