Micron expansion
BoiseDev complete coverage
Officials with Micron Technology, President Joe Biden, Gov. Brad Little, Boise Mayor Lauren McLean, and others appeared at an event near Syracuse, NY, today to announce a set of federal grants totaling $6.14 billion to support expansion in Boise and New York.
The news leaked last week, ahead of today’s formal announcement. It comes as new information on even more expansion could come in Boise in the future.
“This is a historic investment and historic moment,” Sen. Chuck Schumer said during a briefing ahead of today’s announcement. “The $6.1 billion investment will supercharge Micron to bring back leading edge memory chip manufacturing to the US. This will bring $125 billion to central NY and Idaho — tens of thousands of jobs — including good union jobs.”
How much for Idaho?
White House officials would not directly answer BoiseDev’s question about how the funds would be allocated between New York and Idaho.
“These are preliminary terms that we’re announcing — we’re not disclosing the breakdown,” the senior White House official said. “Boise and New York are getting very significant support and (it’s) all part of an integrated manufacturing strategy.”
“Micron’s leading-edge memory is foundational to meeting the growing demands of artificial intelligence, and we are proud to be making significant memory manufacturing investments in the U.S., which will create many high-tech jobs,” Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said in a statement.
Later, during the event, Mehrotra thanked Little & McLean.
“I want to thank Governor Little for the forward-looking vision. Boise Mayor McLean, thank you for sharing our vision and committing to creating a city for everyone,” he said.
BoiseDev first broke news in November of 2021 that the City of Boise was working to land a local expansion of Micron Technology’s local campus.
The company was founded in 1978 in the basement of a dental office at Cole and Ustick, and now employs 40,000 people around the world. Over the years, Micron has moved nearly all of its production of dynamic random access memory chips overseas. With the Boise project, valued at $15 billion, and the New York project, valued at $100 billion, federal officials say 40% of Micron’s memory manufacturing will be brought back to the US.
Little and McLean laud dollars
Idaho’s Little and Boise’s McLean both said the dollars will help the region and benefit Idaho broadly.
“Micron is already a leader for and from Idaho, but the latest commitments and funding mean that Micron will be a national and global leader for decades to come,” Gov. Brad Little said in a statement to BoiseDev. “Micron and the State of Idaho have a long-standing partnership, and I look forward to our continued cooperation as we pursue a shared goal of building opportunity for Idahoans through chip manufacturing.”
“It’s an acknowledgment of the hard work that’s been put in to make sure that as Micron grows, our community benefits,” McLean said in an interview. “It becomes official that a Boise-based homegrown company is being picked to be invested in, and with that comes opportunity for Boise, the region, and Idaho to continue to grow in import and opportunity in the memory space. It’s a big day for Micron, and truly a big day for our city region and state.”
A second fab?
During a presentation during the Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce Leadership Summit in Sun Valley Monday, Scott Gatzmeier, Micron’s VP for expansion, said almost $8 billion will be spent on construction in Boise.
He also said that Micron will not only build the new 600,000-square-foot semiconductor fabrication plant, or fab, in Boise, but crews will also prepare a site next door for a potential future additional fab, which hasn’t previously been reported. He said the work will ensure that possible future construction would be less disruptive.
Construction is well underway on the Micron site south of Boise, with cranes in the air, contractors on site, and daily explosive blasting taking place. White House officials said the Boise plant would start to come online in 2026, while the New York Micron facility could be in operation in 2028.
Gatzmeier also said a new education collaborative has formed to support workforce needs.
“We’ve established the Northwest University network of which not only BSU and U of I are a part of, but also Montana State, Oregon, Oregon State, University of Utah,” Gatzmeier said. “They’re all increasing their number of STEM graduates. We’re also trying to do a groundswell and try to get more kids going into STEM to get them to go into those fields.”
Gatzmeier also noted that Micron chips are increasingly a crucial part of AI processes — including Nvidia’s graphics processing unit chips, which also include Micron memory products.
The company has made a non-specific announcement of the Idaho Community Investment fund. The company has not said how the funds will be spent. Gatzmeier said it will include $75 million in funding over a decade.
Micron touted a new daycare center near its Boise site as part of the fund, which it tied to the expansion. However, as BoiseDev has reported, the company filed for permits with the City of Boise for the daycare in January of 2022, months before it announced it would expand in Boise.
BoiseDev’s Margaret Carmel contributed reporting.
