Micron to invest historic $100 billion in NY semiconductor site

Semiconductor manufacturer Micron Technology has announced that it will spend up to $100 billion on a new leading-edge facility in central New York.

Clay, in central New York, will be host to the new megafab facility, which in time could comprise 2.4 million square feet of cleanroom factory floor.

Headquartered in Idaho, Micron will be the latest ‘home-grown’ manufacturer to establish a major facility within the United States.

In a press release, the company announced that $20 billion of the proposed $100 billion will be invested in the next decade, while the rest would come over the “next 20-plus years.”

The decision is expected to generate almost 50,000 jobs within the state, of which 9,000 could be high-wage Micron roles. Site preparation begins next year, with construction marked for 2024.

Micron already has semiconductor manufacturing facilities in the United States. The move comes as it aims to increase production of its leading-edge dynamic random access memory (DRAM) within the country, with a goal for this to form 40% of its global exports by the end of the decade. The site is expected to begin exporting later this decade, with scale matched to global demand.

The CHIPS and Science Act, which provides $52.7 in subsidies for semiconductor research and manufacturing, was passed for the express purpose of bolstering domestic chip supply and spurring private investment in the sector.

The company stated that the subsidies, alongside $5.5 billion in tax incentives by the State of New York, made the investment on this scale possible.

"Micron will leverage the diverse, highly educated and skilled talent in New York as we look to build our workforce in the Empire State,” said Sanjay Mehrotra, president and CEO at Micron.

“This historic leading-edge memory megafab in central New York will deliver benefits beyond the semiconductor industry by strengthening US technology leadership as well as economic and national security, driving American innovation and competitiveness for decades to come.”

According to the company, the new facility will use 100% renewable energy. This is in line with the company’s commitment to using only renewable energy in its US operations by the end of 2025, and the net-zero emissions target of 2050.

Alongside Micron’s planned facility, the United States will see a wealth of semiconductor manufacturing established over the next decade as a result of the CHIPS and Science Act. Samsung has proposed up to $191 billion in Texas site development, Intel’s $20 billion facility in Ohio, on which the ground has now been broken, had been on pause while the act was debated in Congress.

“Micron’s investment will make New York’s semiconductor corridor into a major engine powering our economy and will supply ‘Made in New York’ microchips to everything from electric vehicles, 5G, and defense technology to personal computers and smartphones,” said Charles Schumer, majority leader in the US Senate in response to the announcement.

“Today’s announcement is the result of my long fight to bring manufacturing back to Upstate New York. The bottom line is that without the CHIPS and Science legislation, Micron would have decided to build its mega-fab overseas.”

The EU has made similar moves to secure its semiconductor supply with its €43 billion Chips Act leading to investment from companies such as STMicro and GlobalFoundries in France, while Intel looks to build a $5 billion facility in Italy.

India is also aiming to attract chip manufacturers in order to expand its already sizeable manufacturing base to fulfil growing domestic demand and add to its range of global exports.