Microchip manufacturer to bring plant to Syracuse area

NEW YORK >> Micron, one of the world’s largest microchip manufacturers, announced Tuesday it would open a semiconductor plant in upstate New York, promising a long-term investment of up to $100 billion and a plant that could bring 50,000 jobs to the state.

The company was lured to the Syracuse area with help from a generous set of federal, state and local incentives, including up to $5.5 billion in state tax credits over 20 years.

The announcement comes after Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-NY, had pushed for Idaho-based Micron and the company’s CEO, Sanjay Mehrotra, 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.

“An investment of this scale in the U.S. is simply not possible without significant government and community support,” Mehrotra said at the announcement.

In addition to tax credits tied to investment and job creation, New York has pledged $200 million for road and infrastructure improvements where the plant is being built in suburban Clay and $100 million to a “community benefit” fund. The state also will review supplying the operation with low-cost power.

New York has a long history of providing financial incentives for companies to locate or expand in the state, with critics questioning whether taxpayers consistently get their money’s worth. Recently, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul has defended her plan to spend an eventual $850 million in taxpayer money toward a new stadium for her hometown Buffalo Bills.

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

“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. “This will be the most advanced memory chip manufacturing facility in the United States and probably the world. And it’s located in a place that will really benefit from it.”

The company plans to invest up to $100 billion over the next 20-plus years to construct the project, with the first investment of $20 billion planned by the end of the decade.