Ground breaking on building Micron set for the fall, with targeted completion in 2026 and operational wafers out the door in 2027
By Stefan Yablonski
Last year, Micron announced plans to invest up to $100 billion over the next 20 years to build the largest semiconductor fabrication facility in the U.S. right here in Central New York.
The commitment includes the creation of nearly 50,000 jobs and a $500 million community investment fund across the region.
“We are in the midst of our state and federal environmental review processes,” said Micron’s senior manager for external affairs Joseph Nehme. “Those are very critical comprehensive processes — critical to allow construction to begin.
“With that being said, there is a lot of other work happening around the project as we prepare for our expansion here in New York.”
That includes things like workforce development, community investment work, work getting communities ready for supply chain opportunities and more, he said.
“There is a lot going on and we are really excited,” Nehme said. “There might not be a lot of action on the surface; but below, there is a lot of energy and effort from people all across the company and all across our community partners — working to get going here.”
They will begin to hire workers for some jobs, both remote and local jobs are posted, he said, adding, “A lot of them have to do with some of the construction work and things of that nature.”
The plan is to break ground on Micron in the fall of 2024, with targeted completion in 2026 and operational wafers out the door in 2027, he said.
“It’s a $100 billion investment, 9,000 employees and we anticipate 40,000 ancillary jobs along with it,” he said. “We will be hiring and building up staff here in Central New York. We will be building up the staff — I am one of the first, but there are many, many more to come.”
Nehme, a Utica native, now lives in Syracuse.
Onondaga County as well as Oswego County will be major players in the project for years to come; but he also foresees Oneida County and Herkimer County as part of the plan.
Some employees will choose to make their home in the Mohawk Valley, according to Nehme.
“It’s an exciting time for the region,” he said. “And I think we are ready to meet the moment.”
It’s possible they could move some Micron workers here.
However, Nehme said, “We really want to focus on doing everything we can to recruit the folks that are here. We really want to tap into the workforce that is here. We have tremendous manufacturing and tremendous educational institutions — that’s one of the reasons Central New York was chosen for this project.
“We want to make sure we are providing opportunities for people here in Central New York and that includes not only people from the city of Syracuse but also Oswego County and all across the region!”
“I think one of the reasons Micron chose Central New York is really a lot of that educational workforce infrastructure is already here,” he continued. “We want to work and partner with those stakeholders so we can get folks to be ready to start working. A lot of that work has been done over the past year. It will continue to be done as we move forward. We are really confident that we have the partners that we need to accomplish that. We’re hopeful that some of our suppliers from other parts of the country will follow us here and set up shop here and want to call this area home.”
The port
About a year ago, Micron representatives visited the Port Authority of Oswego.
“It is certainly an asset for the region and we are exploring ways to utilize that — both for construction and operations,” he said.
Since the announcement was made, Micron has had people from various communities working with its partners — educational partners, colleges, manufacturing associations — people pulling together to have everything come together, Nehme said.
“They are all working together thinking about curriculum, certification for skills that will be needed to work at the facility and making sure our partners have the information they need from us to implement and execute and start training folks,” he said. “That is happening all across the region. In particular SUNY Oswego, CiTi BOCES, Cayuga Community College — they are all part of that.”
Construction began in late 2023 on Onondaga Community College’s Micron cleanroom simulation lab — it is scheduled for completion sometime in 2025.
The lab will be a 5,000 square foot training site for students in the semiconductor and microelectronics industries.
“We are partners on that. It speaks to we really want to help our partners in the educational phase do what they can to help us build a workforce,” Nehme said. “We hope to equip them with curriculum and technical skills that some of our employees will need.
“It’s not just unique to OCC. I look at the CiTi BOCES — particularly their PTECH program it is an exceptional program being led by some amazing folks.
They are the types of programs we really want to lead into and make sure that they have what they need from a technical perspective to train the workers and make sure that the opportunities at Micron are really available to everybody.”
It’s going to be a region wide effort — someone who is in high school today somewhere in Oswego County will have an opportunity down the road to come work at Micron, he added.
Overcoming challenges
When you are talking about a project of this scale, there certainly are some obstacles, Nehme admitted.
“There is going to be challenges and hurdles; there is no doubt about that. But we feel that with our partners at the local, state and federal levels, in the nonprofit world, educational world and really with all the expertise that we have here at Micron we will be able to overcome those hurdles whatever they might be,” he said. “There won’t be anything we can’t overcome with the partnership and teamwork that we have here with Micron folks as well as our partners here in Central New York and across the state.”
Right now the focus is on site preparation and environmental reviews.
“We want to make sure we are not cutting any corners. We have a great working partnership with our partners at the state and federal levels and the agencies that we will work with,” he said. “In the near term, over the next several months, the focus is going to be on really making sure that our environmental reviews are sound.
“We previously announced and we intend stick with a 2024, end of 2024, beginning construction. However, all that is contingent on the environmental review. We are not allowed to start construction until we have approval and permits at the state and federal levels. We’re going to work really hard to get that done and move as quickly as possible.”
The construction workers, trades in Central New York they are used to working in cold weather — the weather isn’t going to stop them from doing what they do, he said.
“We have an agreement with buildings and trades here locally and we know that construction workers here know how to build in all kinds of weather,” he added. “The winters have been much more mild than the old days, I will agree on that point.”
Community involvement
“It’s a 20-year project. We know that this is a long-term thing,” he said. “It’s about doing what we can to be a part of the community and making sure that the project lifts up the entire community along with us. That is really important.
“We’ve appointed a community engagement committee to help us gather input from the community. We are really listening right now. We want to make sure that the community has an opportunity to have input. Micron is new to the area, but what has been constant is that there has been a desire to listen and really, really take feedback from the community and set priorities based on the grassroots feedback.”
Reestablishing America’s leadership
Micron is located in Boise, Idaho. There are sites and facilities all over the world. It is the only US-based manufacturer of memory semiconductors.
“Memory is foundational to every technology that we use today. It is in our cell phones, in our computers, it’s in the data centers in the cloud, in our vehicles, in defense applications and everyday appliances,” Nehme said. “So as technology continues to evolve, particularly artificial intelligence, the demand for memory is really going to continue to grow in the future and that is why we need this kind of investment.
“On top of that, this is really an opportunity to reestablish America’s leadership in the industry and we want to be one of the poster childs of that — to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the United States. It is critical to our economic security, but it is also critical to our national security. Things evolved quickly. It is really important that the United States continues to be at the forefront. We are really excited and we think that Central New York is the perfect place to go.”
