McMahon reacts to Micron’s delayed construction schedule

CLAY, N.Y. — The timeline for construction of the fabrication (fab) facilities at Micron Technology Inc.’s (NASDAQ: MU) upcoming semiconductor campus in the town of Clay has been pushed back. Construction on the first fab — which was previously anticipated to begin in the fourth quarter of 2025 and conclude in the second quarter of 2028 — is now expected to start in the second quarter of 2026 and extend to the third quarter of 2030. The revised construction schedule is part of the final environmental impact statement, or FEIS, that the Onondaga County Industrial Development Authority (OCIDA) approved for the Micron project on Nov. 7. Micron is planning to build its semiconductor-manufacturing campus at the White Pine Commerce Park along Route 31. The FEIS also indicates that “under the revised construction schedule, construction of Fab 2 would begin in Q4 of 2030 and end in Q4 of 2033 whereupon commencement of operations of Fab 2 would begin, instead of beginning in Q3 2028 and ending in Q4 2030.” Even with the construction delay, the OCIDA approval means that Micron should be ready to break ground before the end of this year, pending approval of a finding statement, Robert Petrovich, executive director of OCIDA, said after the vote, per the website of Spectrum News 1. Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon, a few hours after the OCIDA approval, issued a statement praising the vote and calling it a “truly monumental and tangible step forward” for the project and saying that Nov. 7 was “truly a day worth celebrating in Onondaga County and Central New York.” However, later that afternoon, McMahon’s office said he’d be available to speak with reporters by phone from an out-of-town location. “Obviously … a couple of changes in the environmental-impact statement, and the changes kind of reflect the reality of the industry. It is taking about three to four years to build a fab. If you look at what’s happened in Arizona [Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, or TSMC]… and if you look at what’s happening with Micron in Boise, Idaho right now, and the company wanted to provide themselves flexibility, certainly, in the construction. Full-scale construction will begin in December, and … in [2026] you’ll see … foundations and vertical construction. In ‘27, airtight, weather tight construction going through,” McMahon said. He went on to say, “It would be great if this fab was operational in ‘28. The reality is … it can’t be built that fast, and so our goal is to make sure that this has an opportunity to be operational in ‘29, and I think the fab will be built in ‘29 and production will begin and hopefully we can expedite it if the company can advance and move faster.”   When asked what the county executive would say to the nay-sayers about the construction delay, McMahon replied, “This date in the environmental-impact statement is the reflection on the ability to build a fab. The construction is going to be going on the entire time. It’s just taking them longer to build a fab. It’s that simple. There’s going to be a billion dollars invested in 2026 on that site … the largest private-sector investment in the history of our community, so the nay-sayers are wrong.” Also, when asked if Micron had provided him an explanation for the construction delay, the county executive said, “Labor’s an issue; expertise building these fabs in the United States is new … these projects are just taking longer. It’s not news to us who live and breathe this process every day that they might want more time under their review to build it. That doesn’t mean they can’t go faster.”