After groundbreaking, work begins on Micron campus in Clay

CLAY — The contractor Gilbane has started its work on clearing trees after Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) held a Jan. 16 groundbreaking for its upcoming, massive $100 billion semiconductor-manufacturing campus in the town of Clay. The event — which was held at the snow-covered Micron site at 8661 Burnet Road in the town of Clay — attracted local, state, and federal and labor officials, dignitaries, and other supporters. With up to four fabs (fabrication facilities), this will be the largest semiconductor facility in the U.S., generating 50,000 jobs in New York, Micron said in an announcement on its website. The groundbreaking happened more than three years after officials gathered at Syracuse University on Oct. 4, 2022 to announce that Boise, Idaho–based Micron had chosen Clay for the project. “This is a historic moment launching with the groundbreaking [for the] mega site,” Sanjay Mehrotra, chairman, president and CEO of Micron Technology, said in his remarks at the groundbreaking ceremony. The Micron CEO noted that he had visited the site four years ago when the company was still determining where to build this manufacturing campus. “On the fields today, there is snow and soil, but in your mind’s eye, I want you to see what is coming. Imagine the megafabs that will be built here … each of them [the] size of 10 football fields. That’s what going to be here, and over time, there will be four of them,” Mehrotra said. As the largest private investment in New York state history, Micron’s Central New York project will be home to the most “advanced memory manufacturing in the world and will help meet the growing demands of AI [artificial intelligence] systems and devices that are central to the modern economy, per the Micron website announcement. The event speakers also included U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick. “I’m sure you all know the names of the bats that were in the way of this hundred-billion dollar plant that is going to change the lives of tens of thousands of people here, and that’s the problem … we had to get this done in eight months working hard and close with the company to clear the path and effectively clear the trees that were in the way to allow this to happen,” Lutnick told the gathering. Lutnick was referring to two species of endangered bats that Micron found on the site where it’s building the manufacturing campus. The work’s early stages will involve clearing hundreds of acres of trees from the White Pine Commerce Park, an effort that has to be completed by the end of March. U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer started her remarks by calling it a “landmark moment in American manufacturing.” “I’m especially proud to witness Micron’s commitment to the American worker through the largest construction project labor agreement in U.S. history,” Chavez-DeRemer said. “This agreement puts American workers first by guaranteeing an estimated 50,000 jobs right here in this community. These are mortgage-paying jobs that will provide fair benefits for hard-working families. In addition, Micron’s $250 million investment in the workforce development will cultivate that skilled pipeline of American talent.” U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) called it an “historic day for Syracuse, Upstate NY, and for all of America.” “With the first shovels hitting the ground for Micron, and construction beginning on the largest semiconductor manufacturing facility in the country, we are ushering in the next chapter of Upstate NY’s future,” Schumer said in a statement from his office. “Today, we start reversing the trend of parents waving goodbye to their kids at the airport because there aren’t enough family-sustaining jobs. I dreamed of this day when crafting the CHIPS & Science Law because I knew with federal investment, we could bring manufacturing back to America, including Upstate NY. Micron’s $100 billion investment will transform these open fields near Syracuse into thousands of good-paying jobs making the advanced microchips that power nearly every technology from cell phones to AI. Micron’s groundbreaking is proof that America can and will lead in manufacturing once again, and it starts right here in Central NY.” Production is expected to start in 2030 with the fabs ramping up throughout the decade, Micron said. The groundbreaking ceremony at Micron’s site in Clay was followed by a celebration program at Syracuse University’s National Veterans Resource Center where executives and officials provided additional remarks.