The Orange County Partnership, in announcing its innovative Site Inventory Program (SIP) earlier this year, said the initiative was geared to ensure the county’s economic future. Based on the recent news that Micron will be investing $100 billion in New York State and IBM will be pumping in another $20 billion into the state, due in large part to the recently enacted CHIPS and Science Act, the SIP project’s timeline has been moved up and the future is now.
“Projects such as Micron highlight the importance of getting sites shovel ready. Shovel ready sites are no longer a luxury, they’re a necessity,” said Conor Eckert, Senior Development Officer and Vice President of Business Attraction for the Orange County Partnership. “In order to compete for mega-projects in Orange County, we need site readiness, predictability, and speed. As we work to attract the advanced manufacturing and life science sectors, developing new shovel ready sites will be at the center of our economic development efforts at the Orange County Partnership.”
The organization’s SIP goal is to meet with municipal leaders across Orange County to determine all the available properties that could be developed in their respective jurisdictions, their infrastructure needs, regulatory approval requirements and what industries would be best suited for those parcels. The Site Inventory Program seeks to take advantage of some of Orange County’s key growth industries—food & beverage processing, advanced manufacturing, clean energy and life sciences—that the Partnership believes will be investing and creating jobs in the county over the next two decades.
Since its launch, Eckert and Kaitlynn Lancellotti, Director of Business Retention and Expansion for the Orange County Partnership, have met with a host of localities and have further sessions planned in order to create a comprehensive list of properties that could be made available to growth companies such as Micron, IBM or Intel that are investing billions because of the CHIPS and Science Act.
In early October, in what is believed to be one of the largest economic development projects in the nation’s history, Micron announced it is investing up to $100 billion over the next 20-plus years to construct a semiconductor manufacturing campus in Onondaga County, NY.
The project is to be built in Clay, a suburb of Syracuse. Micron’s first phase investment of $20 billion planned by the end of this decade, will create nearly 50,000 jobs statewide—9,000 new high-paying Micron jobs with an average annual salary of more than $100,000 and more than 40,000 community jobs—and create thousands of prevailing wage construction jobs. When complete, the complex will include the nation's largest clean room space at approximately 2.4 million square feet, the size of nearly 40 football fields.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said, “Micron's $100-billion investment in New York marks the start of something transformative in scale and possibility for our state's economic future. I promised that we would jumpstart the economy by being the most business-friendly and worker-friendly state in the nation, and thanks to our State Green CHIPS legislation, the federal CHIPS and Science Act, and extraordinary partnerships with business, labor, and local and federal leaders, this project will do exactly that. Together, we are leveraging this investment—the largest private-sector investment in state history—to secure our economic future, solidify New York's standing as a global manufacturing hub, and usher the state into another Industrial Revolution.”
Two days later, President Biden visited IBM’s Poughkeepsie operations to tout the $100-billion CHIPS and Science Act’s impact on IBM’s decision to invest $20 billion across the Hudson Valley region over the next 10 years. IBM’s investment will be centered on advancing its R&D and manufacturing of semiconductors, mainframe technology, artificial intelligence and quantum computing. Also in New York State, Qualcomm and GlobalFoundries recently announced a new partnership that includes $4.2 billion to manufacture chips in an expansion of GlobalFoundries’ upstate New York facility.
President Biden, during his speech noted that, although outside New York State, Intel announced last month that it was spending $20 billion to build two semiconductor plants in the state of Ohio.
He told the crowd at the IBM facility that “the Hudson Valley could become the epicenter of the future of quantum computing, the most advanced and fastest computing ever, ever seen in the world.”
President Biden later added, “Where is it written that we can’t lead manufacturing in the world? I don’t know where that’s written. And that’s one of the things the CHIPS Act is going to change. A law that’s going to build the future and a proud, proud legacy not only for IBM, but for the country—a legacy of innovation and manufacturing that exists in this region of New York.”
IBM stated that the goal of its investments, which it said will be strengthened by close collaboration with New York State, is “to expand the vibrant technology ecosystem in New York to unlock new discoveries and opportunities in semiconductors, computers, hybrid cloud, artificial intelligence and quantum computers.” It did not supply further specifics on its planned investments.
The company and its businesses support more than 7,500 jobs across the Hudson Valley. This region has been a hub of innovation and manufacturing for decades—from Westchester County to Poughkeepsie to Albany.
“IBM is deeply honored to host President Biden at our Poughkeepsie site today and we look forward to highlighting our commitments to the innovations that advance America's economy,” Arvind Krishna, Chairman and CEO of IBM, said. “As we tackle large-scale technological challenges in climate, energy, transportation and more, we must continue to invest in innovation and discovery - because advanced technologies are key to solving these problems and driving economic prosperity, including better jobs, for millions of Americans.”
A host of other state and federal representatives were on hand for the IBM announcement, including New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, who said, “Millions of good-paying jobs in American manufacturing are coming back to our communities, and we can see that investment happening right here in the Hudson Valley. Thanks to the CHIPS and Science Act, which I was proud to help pass this year, we are creating an economy that works for all Americans today and ensures our competitiveness for generations to come.”
The CHIPS and Science Act will invest:
- $54.2 billion for chip manufacturing and public wireless supply chain innovation, including:
- $39 billion in financial assistance for domestic semiconductor fabrication, assembly, testing, packaging and more.
- $11 billion for research and development through the National Semiconductor Technology Center, the National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program, and the Manufacturing USA Semiconductor Institute.
- $200 million to develop a domestic semiconductor workforce in partnership with the National Science Foundation.
- $81 billion for the National Science Foundation to reinvest in American education and research, including: $20 billion for a new Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships to develop critical technologies such as AI, quantum computing, and materials sciences; $13 billion to support growing the STEM workforce and $11 billion for the Department of Commerce to establish regional innovation hubs.
The new law also provides a 25% investment tax credit for investments in semiconductor manufacturing. The credit covers both manufacturing equipment and the construction of facilities.
