CLAY, N.Y. — Environmental-survey work has started at the White Pine Commerce Park in the town of Clay where Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) plans to build a semiconductor campus.

“Right now, we’ll be doing environmental permitting throughout 2023 and into 2024. After we complete that process, we’ll begin the ground preparation and construction,” Scott Gatzemeier, corporate VP of front-end expansion at Micron, said in speaking with reporters at the site on April 28. A short time earlier, Micron and local officials gathered to announce the start of the environmental work. 

 “A fab of this scale … 600,000 square feet of cleanroom but 1.2 million square feet under roof … It’s going to take two years for us to build that up and then we’ll start manufacturing and bringing in literally thousands of semiconductor equipment tools and ramping it throughout the rest of the decade,” Gatzemeier added.

“For us, partnering with … various state agencies to bring this project to life is just a historic moment for Micron,” Sanjay Mehrotra, president and CEO of Micron Technology, said in his remarks. He delivered remarks on the property at 8699 Burnett Road in the town of Clay. 

It was on Oct. 4, 2022 that Micron announced plans to invest up to $100 billion over the next 20-plus years on a semiconductor-manufacturing campus at the White Pine Commerce Park in the town of Clay.

“This is … the start of the project as we go through the design and environmental-impact study phase and environmental permitting,” Gatzemeier said during the April 28 formal announcement.

Mehrotra noted that Gatzemeier led Micron’s team that selected the site in Clay to build the semiconductor campus.

CME Associates, Inc., a DeWitt–based engineering technology corporation, provided Micron officials an update on its plan for conducting an environmental survey of the site. 

“And that reflects the commitment of Micron to building an environmentally friendly, sustainable, and, of course, community-friendly site here,” Mehrotra said. “So, this is really an important milestone, important start to this project.” 

A piece of equipment from CME Associates was parked on the property not far from the tent in which Micron and local officials provided their project update. 

In his remarks, the Micron CEO went on to say that it’s a 20-year project, and the site, which currently has acres of shrubbery, will have four “major” buildings and each structure will be the size of “10 football fields.” 

“So, a total [of] 40 football fields worth of cleanroom space. Each of them being 600,000 square feet … 2.4 million square feet of cleanroom space that will be built over the course of 20 years,” Mehrotra added. 

The project will lead to the creation of 50,000 jobs over that 20-year period, including 9,000 Micron employees and 41,000 jobs in the community to support this “massive operation,” the Micron CEO noted. 

“And yes, it will be massive because memory is becoming a massive part of our lives, of every business.in the world today,” he added. “You all have heard about ChatGPT, generative AI [artificial intelligence] and we are just barely seeing the tip of the iceberg for AI. So, AI … industrial IoT … all of these require more data. They require more insights from data. Data lives in the kind of memory that will built here in Clay.” 

Mehrotra went on to say that it’s not just about technology and production. It is “absolutely about” sustainable operations, efficient operations, and workforce development. Recruiting 50,000 workers is going to “require reaching out” to the community, underserved populations, those populations that have been underrepresented in technology.