While Congress inches closer to passing a final bill that would throw tens of billions of dollars at the semiconductor industry,  Intel is getting ready to build such a plant in Ohio…without a check from Uncle Sam:

Intel Corp. said it plans to invest at least $20 billion in new chip-making capacity in Ohio, bolstering the company’s semiconductor-production ambitions as greater demand for digital products and a global chip shortage have amplified the need for more manufacturing.

Intel said…it would invest in two new chip factories just outside Columbus, Ohio, to add to Intel’s effort to expand its chip-making business.

That’s not to say Intel is doing all this investing on its own. Ohio taxpayers are on the hook for plenty:

The Ohio location, Mr. Gelsinger said, beat out roughly 40 other sites across the country to win the business. The region landed Intel’s investment, in part, by offering infrastructure upgrades, a massive space with room for expansion, and other incentives, he said.

Ohio’s Lieutenant Gov. Jon Husted said that to secure Intel’s investment the state offered tax breaks linked to job creation and infrastructure spending, including for site construction.

Yes, state and local corporate welfare efforts are alive, well, and growing like weeds. Of course, local pols insist they are making good investments that will show substantial returns. Great! Do it with your own money…not taxpayers’ money.

All that said, Team Biden is pointing to the Intel move as proof – proof! – of the need for billions if federal subsidies, too. Which only further bolsters the notion that Mr. Biden, like most Democrats, has never read his Bastiat, and never met a welfare program he didn’t love. Even if it’s welfare for some of the most well capitalized companies on Earth.