Intel has benefited from property tax breaks that have cost Oregon and New Mexico communities more than $1.2 billion in lost revenue since 2015, with local schools bearing the brunt of the shortfall, according to a report published this week by Good Jobs First, a non-profit organization that promotes accountability in economic development. The report, titled "The Bleeding Edge: How the Public Pays the Costs of Intel's Semiconductor Manufacturing," questions why the chipmaker continues to receive tax incentives from these states decades after establishing operations there, particularly as the company has laid off thousands of workers in those regions. The findings come despite Intel securing billions in additional funding under the federal CHIPS Act.
In Oregon, the report calculates that property tax exemptions through Intel's use of the Strategic Investment Program allowed the company to avoid at least $1.14 billion in taxes, while schools in Hillsboro lost $891 million in revenue from 2017 through 2025. During the same period, Intel paid $552.4 million in fees to Oregon, representing less than one-third of the value of its tax breaks. In New Mexico, the figures show property tax exemptions from Industrial Revenue Bonds totaled $99.6 million in foregone revenue since 2017, while Rio Rancho's public schools lost an estimated $43.4 million over the nine-year span. The company paid $41.6 million in required payments in lieu of taxes from 2017 through 2025, distributed among affected local governments. Good Jobs First also estimates that Intel has cut more than 4,700 workers at its Oregon and New Mexico facilities over the past three years, representing only a fraction of the company's total layoffs during that time.
The core question raised by the organization centers on whether ongoing tax incentives remain justified for established facilities that Intel has operated for decades. "Tax incentives are supposed to encourage investment, not provide companies with an ongoing stream of public support for decades," said Kristan Wong Karinen, Good Jobs First Research Analyst and report author. The report argues that these sites already possess the facilities, infrastructure, skilled workers, and other necessities that a new location might require investment for, questioning whether continued tax breaks are truly necessary or simply subsidizing business decisions Intel would make anyway. Intel responded to the claims by stating that it "works closely with governments in the regions where we operate to leverage incentives that support leading-edge semiconductor R&D and manufacturing," but declined to provide additional details beyond what's available in its annual reports.
The situation grows more complex when factoring in federal funding, as Intel was initially awarded $7.86 billion under the Biden administration's CHIPS Act, with $2.2 billion believed to have been paid out. The incoming Trump administration rethought the arrangement and ultimately negotiated an $8.9 billion deal for 10 percent of Intel's common stock, composed of the remaining $5.7 billion from the CHIPS Act plus an additional $3.2 billion under the Secure Enclave program to manufacture semiconductors for military applications. Good Jobs First recommends that Intel's track record in Oregon and New Mexico should serve as important lessons for other communities considering hosting semiconductor manufacturing, urging local leaders to ask hard questions about whether state and local tax breaks are even necessary, especially given the billions of dollars in federal grants and tax credits flowing from the CHIPS Act. The organization frames these cases as cautionary tales about subsidizing established operations that may have proceeded without public support. The tension between attracting high-tech manufacturing and protecting public revenue streams presents a dilemma that extends well beyond these two states, as communities nationwide weigh the true cost of landing major industrial operations against the promised economic benefits that may never fully materialize.