Dive Brief:
- Micron Technology, a Boise, Idaho-based semiconductor manufacturing company, plans to invest up to $100 billion over the next 20 years to build a new megafab in Clay, New York, near Syracuse, according to a company release.
- Site preparation work will start in 2023, with construction beginning in 2024 with a goal for chip production to ramp up in the latter half of the decade, according to the release. The site could eventually include four 600,000-square-foot cleanrooms, for a total of 2.4 million square feet of cleanroom space.
- The new megafab will increase supply of leading-edge memory chips and create nearly 50,000 New York jobs, including approximately 9,000 high-paying Micron positions, according to the release.
Dive Insight:
The passage of the $52 billion CHIPS Act earlier this summer proved instrumental in moving forward Micron’s investment plans in New York, said Sanjay Mehrotra, president and CEO of Micron.
The $5.5 billion in incentives from the state of New York over the life of the project alongside anticipated federal grants and tax credits from the CHIPS Act are critical for hiring efforts and capital investment, according to the release.
The New York megafab is part of Micron’s strategy to gradually increase American-made leading-edge DRAM production to 40% of the company’s global output over the next decade. DRAM is a common type of random access memory that is used in personal computers, workstations and servers.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who advocated for the CHIPS Act, called the fab "our Erie Canal moment," referring to the creation of the waterway between Albany and Buffalo in 1817 that was the biggest public works project in the country at that time. He touted the plant as a major win for President Joe Biden's push to onshore American manufacturing.
“The bottom line is that without the CHIPS and Science legislation, Micron would have decided to build its megafab overseas,” said Schumer in a statement. “This investment leaves no question that the future of microchip manufacturing will remain not just in this country, but in Syracuse specifically.”
Micron and the state of New York are also announcing a $500 million investment in community and workforce development with a focus on disadvantaged areas over the duration of the project. The $500 million fund will target workforce training, education programs, housing and other community investments.
The investment in New York follows the company’s $15 billion investment in its Idaho memory fabrication plant last month. Construction on that facility is slated to begin in 2023, with production to start in 2025 and scale up over the second half of the decade.