President Joe Biden will visit Syracuse on Thursday to formally announce the preliminary agreement between the Department of Commerce and Micron providing Micron with up to $6.14 billion in direct funding under the CHIPS and Science Act.
Micron is the seventh investment under the CHIPS and Science Act. Don Graves, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce, said it's vital for the U.S. to stay at the forefront of memory technology as chips are a critical component of the U.S. economy and national security.
"With this proposed investment, we're delivering on one of the core objectives of the CHIPS program to onshore the production and development of the most advanced leading-edge memory technology, which is absolutely critical for our continued technology leadership and protecting U.S. national security," Graves said.
The CHIPS funding for Micron will be split between projects in Boise, Idaho, and Clay, New York. The Boise portion of the funding will support the development of a high-volume manufacturing fab with 600,000 square feet of cleanroom space. The Clay portion supports the construction of the first two fabs of a planned four fab "megafab" where each fab will include 600,000 square feet of cleanrooms.
The breakdown of how the funding will be divided between New York and Idaho was not shared. In addition to the $6.14 billion in direct funds, the U.S. Department of Commerce said the CHIPS Program Office would also make up to $7.5 billion of proposed loans available to Micron under the preliminary memorandum of terms. The $7.5 billion comes from $75 billion available in loan authority under the CHIPS and Science Act.
Sanjay Mehrotra, Micron's president and CEO, said the investment will ensure the U.S. semiconductor competitiveness for generations to come.
“This is a historic moment for semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S.,” Mehrotra said. “Micron’s leading-edge memory is foundational to meeting the growing demands of artificial intelligence, and we are proud to be making significant memory manufacturing investments in the U.S., which will create many high-tech jobs."
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Biden will also announce Syracuse was selected as a White House Investing in America Workforce Hub.
"The Workforce Hub designation will build on the major efforts Micron is already undertaking on its own to train a new generation of workers," Schumer said. "And it includes working with educational institutions, unions on registered apprenticeship programs using PLAs, project labor agreements and investing in child care programs to attract and retain skilled workers."
In addition to Syracuse, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and Detroit will also be announced as workforce hubs, joining the five initial workforce hub designations announced last year.
