Federal, state and local officials held a groundbreaking ceremony Friday for Micron's $100 billion semiconductor chip fabrication plant near Syracuse, what eventually will be the largest semiconductor manufacturing campus in the United States.
Central New York has been waiting for this day for more than three years, ever since the Micron announced the investment in the project in October of 2022. Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra wants central New Yorkers to use their imagination, as a swampy former farm field is transformed into one of the biggest memory chip making campuses in the country.
"On the fields today there is snow and soil," said Mehrotra. "But in your mind's eye, I want you to see what is coming. Imagine the mega fabs that will be built here, each of them size of 10 football fields. That's what's going to be here and over time there will be four of them."
A bevy of state, federal and local officials joined Mehrotra for the groundbreaking, including U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who gave the Trump administration credit for the project.
"The tariff policy and our industrial policy says bring it home," said Lutnick. "We need to employ Americans. Just this project alone, 90,000 great high-paying American jobs."
But it was the CHIPS and Science Act, written by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and signed into law by former President Joe Biden that provided much of the incentive for Micron to put down roots in central New York, along with the Green Chips Act offering New York state support. But politicians didn’t want to talk politics on this momentous day. Gov. Kathy Hochul said the Trump administration is on board with this project, despite Trump’s past criticism of the CHIPS Act.
"We had to make sure that what was said on the campaign trail didn't happen in reality, and I'm really proud that they see the value of this incredible project. So it's great that there's a continuation of what President Biden started. We supported to bring it here in New York and now the Trump administration is supportive as well. That's all good."
Micron will begin taking down trees on hundreds of acres throughout the site, with concrete expected to be poured this summer. Schumer said he’s already seeing the impact of this groundbreaking.
"We are getting calls to the state and federal level of many more companies that want to come and follow Micron's lead over and over again in not only in central New York but in Albany, in Rochester, in Buffalo," said Schumer. The fact that Micron came here and is putting such a large investment in gives other companies the faith that they should be here in Upstate New York."
The first of four fabs is expected to be up and running by 2030.
