Intel has been forced to shelve plans to open Fab 42 in Chandler, Arizona. The fab was supposed to launch full scale production this year, but Intel has confirmed that it will remain closed “for the foreseeable future.”

The announcement comes across as embarrassing, as the fab was toured by US president Barack Obama in 2012, whose teleprompter told him to shower former Intel CEO Paul Otellini and the fab itself with words of praise.

"I’m here because the factory that’s being built behind me is an example of an America that is within our reach. An America that attracts the next generation of good manufacturing jobs. An America where we build stuff and make stuff and sell stuff all over the world," Obama said at the time. Mitt Romney could really use a time machine.

Fab 42 was supposed to produce 14nm chips. The facility was supposed to cost $5 billion, although the cost may have been slightly lower as the fab never went on line.

"The new construction is going to be left vacant for now and it will be targeted at future technologies," Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy told Reuters.

Mulloy stressed that the fab has not been equipped with the capital equipment, although it has “heating and air conditioning.”

“The actual tools, the expensive stuff, are not in there," Mulloy said.