$100 Billion Semiconductor Factory To Be Constructed In Upstate New York

By FrumNews.com 

Syracuse, New York — After receiving 6.1 billion dollars in federal funds, Micron Technology plans to build a new massive $100 billion semiconductor manufacturing complex in the northern suburbs of Syracuse, in Upstate New York, and another complex in Boise, Idaho.

President Joe Biden made the news official in a visit to Syracuse, to announce that the Department of Commerce has reached a preliminary agreement with Micron to provide up to around $6.14 billion in direct funding under the CHIPS and Science Act. 

The new funding announced for Micron would go to fund the construction of the first two fabs of a planned four-fab “megafab” focused on leading-edge DRAM chip production in Syracuse, New York. Each fab will have 600,000 square feet of cleanrooms, totaling 2.4 million square feet of cleanroom space across the four facilities—the largest amount of cleanroom space ever constructed in the United States and the size of nearly 40 football fields.

The funding will also support the development of a high-volume manufacturing (HVM) fab in Boise, Idaho, with approximately 600,000 square feet of cleanroom space focused on the production of leading-edge DRAM chips. The fab would be co-located with the company’s existing R&D facility to improve efficiency across its R&D and manufacturing operations, reducing lags in technology transfer and cutting time-to-market for leading-edge memory products.

The funding comes from the CHIPS Act, signed into law in 2022. After the COVID-19 Pandemic shut down global trade, creating a massive backlog of Semiconductor chips, forcing manufacturers to close factories and raise prices. After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, there were fears that China would successively invade Taiwan, which manufactures a commanding market of over 60% share of the world’s semiconductors and over 90% of the most advanced chips in computers, phones and supercomputers, as well as cars and military hardware.

The CHIPS Act was a response to these fears and intended to revitalize the semiconductor foundry market. It aims to carry out activities relating to the creation of incentives to produce semiconductors in the United States.

Earlier in 2024, FrumNews.com reported that another factory was being constructed by New York-headquartered GlobalFoundries near Albany, after receiving $1.5 billion in subsidies. 

In April 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced $6.4 billion for Samsung to build leading-edge logic, R&D, and advanced packaging fabs in Taylor, TX, and to expand a current-generation and mature-node facility in Austin, TX. As well as another $6.4 Billion dollars for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to support the development of three greenfield fabs in Phoenix, AZ.

“Leading-edge memory chips are foundational to all advanced technologies, and thanks to President Biden’s leadership, America is rebuilding its capacity to produce these critical capabilities for the first time in almost two decades,” U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said. “With this proposed investment, we are working to deliver on one of the core objectives of President Biden’s CHIPS program – onshoring the development and production of the most advanced memory semiconductor technology, which is crucial for safeguarding our leadership on artificial intelligence and protecting our economic and national security. With these proposed investments, coupled with Micron’s historic private investment of up to $125 billion in New York and Idaho over the next 20 years.”

“As the first Governor from Upstate New York in more than a century, I knew we needed to revitalize the Upstate economy and transform New York State into a national leader in semiconductor manufacturing and research. The combination of federal funding and our Green CHIPS program is the formula for success,” Governor Kathy Hochul said. “I spent months advocating for Micron to come to New York and this megafab will be a game changer, setting the stage for regional transformation. This is just the beginning of what we’ll accomplish together, but none of it would be possible without the partnership of President Biden, Commerce Secretary Raimondo, New York’s congressional delegation, the New York State Legislature and our local stakeholders.”