Micron to Get $6.1 Billion in CHIPS Act Funding for Plants in New York and Idaho -- Barrons.com

By Eric J. Savitz

Micron Technology has reached a preliminary agreement with the Commerce Department to receive $6.1 billion in funds under the CHIPS and Science Act to build out a planned new memory chip plant in upstate New York and to expand existing facilities in Boise, Idaho.

The funding was announced in a press release Thursday by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who had been a sponsor of the CHIPS and Science Act, which is intended to bolster the U.S. chip production business to better compete with Asian rivals.

The new fab, to be built in Clay, N.Y., near Syracuse, will eventually require more than $100 billion in investment, the company said when it first announced the project in 2022, creating more than 50,000 jobs. Schumer has called the Micron project the biggest thing to happen to the Syracuse area since the Erie Canal, which was built 200 years ago.

Micron has said the New York site could eventually include four 600,000 square foot cleanrooms, about the size of 40 football fields.

"From smartphones to AI to our nation's most sensitive defense technologies, the memory chips Micron makes are in nearly every product of our modern economy," Schumer said in a statement. "But, as the pandemic showed, when we don't shore up our supply chains and make these chips in America, we can be left vulnerable, prices can skyrocket, and our national security can be threatened. This investment will build a more secure economy for the entire country and strengthen our national security."

Micron declined to comment on the announcement. The company previously had said that site preparation work would start in 2023, with construction to begin in 2024, and production output expected in the latter half of the decade. Micron also previously has said the state of New York will provide $5.5 billion in incentives over the life of the project.

"The largest private investment in American history is on its way to Central New York," New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement. "We're going to revitalize our Upstate economy -- one microchip at a time."

Write to Eric J. Savitz at eric.savitz@barrons.com

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April 18, 2024 14:53 ET (18:53 GMT)

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