Electronic Products & Technology

Micron to bring microchip plant to upstate New York

By The Associated Press, New York (AP)   

Electronics Semiconductors Supply Chain Manufacturing semiconductors supply Chain

``This is like a 21st century Erie Canal,'' Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer

Micron Technology Inc., one of the world’s largest microchip manufacturers, is expected to open a semiconductor plant in New York, promising an investment of up to $100 billion and a plant that could bring 50,000 jobs to the state, the Senate’s top Democrat says.

The announcement comes after Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, of New York, had pushed Micron and the company’s CEO, Sanjay Mehrota, to consider upstate New York for its factory. It also comes months after Congress passed the $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act, which set aside $52 billion to bolster the semiconductor industry.

Source: Micron Technology

Companies like Micron manufacture the diminutive chips that power everything from smartphones to computers to automobiles. The bill was aimed at bolstering U.S. competitiveness against China and avoiding another chip shortage like the one that derailed the auto and tech industries during the pandemic.

Chips are essential to our economy

Schumer confirmed to The Associated Press that Micron plans to bring its plant to the White Pine Commerce Park in Clay, New York, near Syracuse, after speaking with the company’s leaders.

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“Chips are essential to our economy, and if we were to lose the ability to manufacture chips here in the United States, it would be a severe, both economic security and national security risk,” Schumer said in an interview with The Associated Press. “This will be the most advanced memory chip manufacturing facility in the United States and probably the world. And, and it’s located in a place that will really benefit from it.”

The company plans to invest $100 billion over the next 20 years, with the first investment of $20 billion planned by the end of the decade, Schumer said. The deal is also expected to bring more than 9,000 jobs to Micron and officials believe it could also bring close to 40,000 other ancillary jobs to the region, from suppliers to contractors, Schumer said.

Building an economy from the bottom up

After signing the $280 billion bill last month, President Joe Biden touted the New York investment as proof that it was working.

“Today is another win for America, and another massive new investment in America spurred by my economic plan,” Biden said. “Micron, an American company, is investing $20 billion dollars this decade and up to $100 billion over twenty years in CHIPS manufacturing in upstate New York, creating tens of thousands of good paying jobs. Together, we are building an economy from the bottom up and the middle out, where we lower costs for our families and make it right here in America.”

Help cement economy growth

Micron – based in Boise, Idaho – has several chip manufacturing plants around the world, including in Singapore and Taiwan. The company announced in September that it would invest $15 billion though the end of the decade on a new semiconductor plant in its hometown of Boise that the chipmaker said will create 17,000 American jobs.

“This is like a 21st century Erie Canal,” Schumer said of the New York plant. “And just as the original Erie Canal did centuries ago, this will help cement the growth of our economy for decades to come, not only in upstate New York, but in the country, since these chips are so vital to so many of our cutting edge industries.”

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Zeke Miller in Washington contributed.

Details on Micron’s historic New York megafab plans:

  • Micron has selected Clay, New York, just 10 minutes outside of Syracuse, for the location of the megafab site.
  • Micron intends to invest up to $100 billion over the next 20-plus years, with the first phase investment of $20 billion planned by the end of this decade, to build a leadingedge memory megafab in Clay, New York.
  • This is the largest private investment ever made in New York state history.
  • This new megafab will create nearly 50,000 New York jobs: 9,000 new high-paying Micron jobs and over 40,000 community jobs – including suppliers, contractors and other supporting roles. Micron will begin direct hiring for the megafab in line with the production ramp.
  • Micron’s Central New York site could eventually include four 600,000 square foot cleanrooms, accounting for a total of 2.4 million square feet of cleanroom space – the size of approximately 40 U.S. football fields.
  • Site preparation work will start in 2023 with construction beginning in 2024.
  • Production output will ramp in the latter half of the decade, in line with industry demand trends.

 

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