The White Pine Commerce Park, home to Micron’s soon-to-be-built semiconductor plant, stretched out hot and dusty in the 80-degree air on Thursday morning. As trucks passed by, leaders from Micron and politicians from the local, state, and federal government sat in an air conditioned room and marveled at what they’d accomplished.
“Six months ago, this was a forest,” said Manish Bhatia, Micron’s executive vice president of global operations. “We broke ground, we cleared trees, we got other site preparation work done ahead of schedule. And here we are, and it’s July, and we’re pouring concrete.”
On Thursday morning, Micron ceremonially poured the first concrete for its first microchip fabrication plant in Clay. Micron officials said the company is ahead of schedule — they had not anticipated pouring concrete for several more months.
The United States’ 250th birthday was a recurring theme in the celebration. Outside, a large American flag hung between two Micron-branded cement mixers.
Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said the company planned a $250 billion investment in the US, bumping the number up from $200 billion. The same day, the company committed $3 billion to build a robust supply chain for its chip manufacturing processes.
The company also recently announced plans to give every child in nine Central New York counties $250 in Trump Accounts, an investment account recently launched by the federal government for children under 18.
In a speech, Mehrotra urged Micron to “keep raising the bar” and to “move with urgency, discipline, and purpose.”
“For generations, America’s strength has come from its ability to build boldly and ambitiously and for the future,” he said. “And that spirit is alive, right here in Central New York.”
In speeches celebrating the cement pour, leaders celebrated what they portrayed as an emblem of the return of American manufacturing.
“Sanjay,” said Governor Kathy Hochul, addressing Micron’s CEO directly, “I’m thinking about the immortal words of a former GM CEO back in the 1950s,” she said, quoting: As goes GM, goes America. “I’m here to say: as goes Micron, goes America.” The company estimates it will directly create 9,000 jobs for Central New Yorkers, while an additional 40,000 are created through servicing it. The project is projected to take 20 years to complete, but Micron emphasized speed in Thursday’s celebration.
Micron agreed to come to Clay in October 2022, initially planning to build up to four fabrication plants in the town. The company estimates it will directly create 9,000 jobs for Central New Yorkers, while an additional 40,000 are created through servicing it. The project is projected to take 20 years to complete, but Micron emphasized speed in Thursday’s celebration.
The company received $5.5 billion in subsidies from New York State and also qualifies for billions in subsidies through the CHIPS and Science Act. It has promised to give $250 million to community development projects in the region.
Three members of the Trump administration spoke after Mehrotra and before local politicians from Clay, Onondaga County, and New York state.
“Before the Trump administration, would you ever imagine standing there listening to these kinds of numbers?” said Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, referring to Micron’s increased investment. “But what’s happened is that you’ve just gotten used to them, right? You get used to the fact that amazing companies are just investing heavily in America — and of course, Micron being right at the top of the heap.”
Kelly Loeffler, the director of the U.S. Small Business Administration said that Donald Trump had turned around a fifty-year history of outsourcing to other countries. She said the country is “choosing free enterprise over socialism” by investing in Micron.
Loeffler noted that Micron had been “there from day one,” and thanked Mehrotra for betting on American workers. Micron’s initial investment in Central New York was negotiated under the Biden Administration.
County Executive Ryan McMahon said that when the people in the room met their maker, they should think back on that moment as an example of the good they had done in the world.
Micron’s investment is already significant. More than 200 trucks are already moving around every day to finish the project, Bhatia said. Some of them were visible from the window as politicians spoke. The project in Clay will use enough rebar to wrap twice around the earth, and each fab will contain around as much structural steel as the Golden Gate Bridge.
After all of the speeches, the politicians and Micron leaders went outside. As they posed for a photo in front of the American flag, workers in yellow vests started mixing the concrete.
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