ROCHESTER, NY (WROC) — Micron, the global leader in computer chip manufacturing, announced the creation of a giant $100-billion dollar plant in Clay, New York — north of Syracuse.

Leaders are saying it will create 45,000 new jobs over 20 years (9,000 campus jobs and the rest community-based), and many of the skilled workers needed just might be coming from the Rochester region’s universities and schools.

“It’s the Super Bowl, it’s a World Series for economic development, and Central New York won that yesterday,” said Bob Duffy with the Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce.

Duffy says the Micron facility, while in Clay, will draw applicants from everywhere, including the Rochester region. 

“We have 19 colleges and universities up here– our private colleges and universities, our SUNY system, I think they’re all poised to help fill,” he said.

Santosh Kurinec is a professor of microelectronic and electrical engineering at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She says RIT has 40 years of experience teaching micro-tech. 

“We have a lot of our students, our alum, working for Micron,” she said.

Kurinec outlined the discipline involved: “It combines electrical engineering, computer engineering, physics, materials science, and chemical engineering, all combined,” she said.

In other words, it’s job security for humans. While much of the processes are automated, it takes people at the wheel. “So human beings will be always needed,” she said.

And what of the ancillary jobs all of this will create? 

“Well, start with construction, engineers, construction companies, this place is going to be enormous. There are 1,500 acres of land there,” said Duffy.

And don’t forget– workers have to eat and fuel up: Restaurants, shops, gas stations, and other facilities will likely be planned, adding into that 45,000 job sum. 

“The reverberations are going to be endless with this, and I think we all should be ready,” said Duffy.

This will be a long-term investment for Micron; it’s expected to take 20 years for all four giant rooms to be built, but construction is expected to begin in 2023/2024. New York State is also investing millions of dollars in this project to improve and upgrade roadways in and around the town of Clay.

For more on the project click here.

Rendering of the Micron campus that is planned for Clay, NY

FROM THE MICRON WEBPAGE:

  • Micron has selected Clay, New York, just 10 minutes outside of Syracuse, for the location of the megafab site.
  • Micron intends to invest up to $100 billion over the next 20-plus years, with the first phase investment of $20 billion planned by the end of this decade, to build a leading-edge memory megafab in Clay, New York.
  • This is the largest private investment ever made in New York state history.
  • Create 9,000 new high-paying Micron jobs and over 40,000 community jobs – including suppliers, contractors and other supporting roles. Micron will begin direct hiring for the megafab in line with the production ramp.
  • Micron’s Central New York site could eventually include four 600,000 square foot cleanrooms, accounting for a total of 2.4 million square feet of cleanroom space – the size of approximately 40 U.S. football fields.
  • Site preparation work will start in 2023 with construction beginning in 2024.
  • Production output will ramp in the latter half of the decade, in line with industry demand trends.