Syracuse University and Onondaga County Partner to Power Micron’s Semiconductor Revolution
It’s the kind of transformative economic development that only comes around once every couple of centuries or so. Micron Technology’s 20-year, $100 billion plan to establish a semiconductor megafab facility in Onondaga County has a potential economic impact on par with the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825.
Syracuse University and Onondaga County are partnering to seize the moment with the Center for Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing, a campus facility and program that will establish and fuel the workforce and supply chain company pipeline needed for Micron to be successful.
“This is a generational opportunity in the context of a 154-year-old university to, once again, reinvent our future and play a leading role in the technologies that will socially, culturally and economically, drive human existence into the future,”
Mike Haynie, Vice Chancellor of Strategic Initiatives and Innovation
The center will be funded by a $10 million investment from the university, as well as a $10 million grant from Onondaga County. It’s all part of a more than $100 million investment in expanding the university’s College of Engineering and Computer Science over the next five years.
“We knew that we needed our anchor university in the community to do more directly in the semiconductor space,” Onondaga County Executive J. Ryan McMahon II said. “That’s why we put forward $10 million, which is leveraging $100 million the university is investing over the next five years, to really double down on their efforts to attract more talent, to develop more talent, and to help really bolster this ecosystem that we’re trying to create here in Onondaga County.
“When you look at what other communities have done well in developing a semiconductor ecosystem, specifically other countries like Taiwan, you have a workforce development pipeline from early childhood all the way through research and development,” he said. “And so, we really studied and learned what was not going to be necessary here and on the county to really help differentiate our story.”
All told, the Micron project is expected to bring 50,000 new jobs in the region, including 9,000 high-paying jobs directly with the chip manufacturer. Micron will also invest $500 million in community and workforce development, focusing on assisting traditionally underrepresented and disadvantaged populations while training or retraining the region’s workforce.
“The Center for Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing at Syracuse is going to be a very unique facility because it’s going to bring together research, education and inspiration – and the inspiration part is probably the most important,” College of Engineering and Computer Science Dean J. Cole Smith said. “We’ve got a lot of young men and women in this area that are looking at the arrival of all of this industry and trying to figure out where they fit into it.
We’ve got a lot of young men and women in this area that are looking at the arrival of all of this industry and trying to figure out where they fit into it.
J. Cole Smith, Dean, College of Engineering and Computer Science
“They can easily conclude that it’s for somebody else. But, the great news about modern semiconductor manufacturing is that there is a place for you, wherever you want to be,” he said. “We feel like we can do a real service for our local populace in terms of educating what this is and how you get involved and why you’d want to be involved.”
But, the talent isn’t the only need. Onondaga County and Syracuse University’s partnership covers another critical necessity for fostering a true hub of innovation that will produce economic prosperity well into the future.
“One of the things that we’ve learned working with our partners at the county and Micron is that the key to the success of Micron’s investment in Central New York is cutting-edge research around semiconductor manufacture,” Haynie said. “Micron and many of the folks in that field have very robust and comprehensive R&D operations related to the technology that drives the chips themselves.
“Many of these supply chain companies, however, are small- and medium-sized businesses that don’t have the ability to invest significantly in R&D to drive their own growth,” Haynie said, noting that Syracuse is classified as a Research I (R1) university by the Carnegie Foundation. “That’s where an R1 university comes in – we have the opportunity to partner with these ecosystem companies, the supply chain companies, and be, in part, their R&D arm.”
The comprehensive partnership between Syracuse University and Onondaga County bolsters an already-strong advanced manufacturing ecosystem in Onondaga County with all the mechanisms for perpetual benefit to both the workforce and the companies involved.
“Syracuse University has been a great partner,” Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency Executive Director Robert Petrovich said. “For Micron to be successful, the university and Onondaga County have to work in partnership not only to train the workforce, but also provide opportunities for supply chain partners to locate within the community.”
It’s just the latest in a long sequence of forward-thinking plans and a collaborative approach to execution for Onondaga County leadership and OCIDA. The commitment to building a tech hub is years in the making.
“It’s the supply chain, it’s the education, it’s the equity. It is the entrepreneurship that will occur across the entire region,” Smith said. “We’ve seen great, great promise here in the region just in the last three years of some exciting startups.
“They’ll stay if they can find the workforce, they’ll stay if they can find the thought leaders,” he said. “They’ll stay if Onondaga County continues to be as forward-looking as they’ve been over the last two or three decades in attracting businesses and making it a great environment for them.”
