The tech giant had hoped to start making chips next year, but now they say they won't finish building the factories until late 2026. The news sent Intel's shares tumbling by 1.5 per cent in after-hours trading.

"We are still keen to finish the project, and we are working hard. We have done a lot in the last year," an Intel mouthpiece said, making excuses for the delays.

Intel had already admitted that its sales for the first quarter would be lower than expected last month.

That's because customers are ditching its old-fashioned server and PC chips for AI data servers, which are ruled by its rivals Nvidia and AMD.

Rather than relying on the market to decide, the US government has been promising billions of tax payers cash to Big Tech to keep it ahead of the Chinese. However, this money has been slower to arrive meaning that companies have had to do the unthinkable and operate efficiently until the government cheques clear.