Copyright Staten Island Advance
Syracuse, N.Y. -- Micron Technology will delay opening its first two chipmaking factories in Clay by two to three years, the company said in a report made public today. That would mean the first factory wouldn’t open until eight years after Micron announced in 2022 it planned to build in Central New York. Micron said earlier this year that the first fabrication plant, or fab, was scheduled to open in mid-2028. The opening has now been moved back to late 2030. Completion of the second fab has been pushed back from late 2030 to late 2033, the company said in the final environmental report on the project, released today. The environmental report was formally accepted and made public today by the Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency. Acceptance of the report is a critical step in Micron’s plans to move ahead with site preparation and construction. Not only would construction start later on the two fabs, but it would take longer. The construction period for the first fab, for example, has been lengthened from three to four years. Micron did not explicitly give reasons for the delays in the report. A company spokewoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Micron did note in the report, however, that the requirements under its agreement for $6.1 billion funding deal with the U.S. Department of Commerce had recently changed. “The amendment modified the time by approximately two years in which Micron would have the option to commence operations of Fabs 1 and 2 for purposes of the funding agreement,” the environmental report said. The revised agreement with the commerce department also called for Micron to build a second fab at its headquarters in Boise, Idaho. That fab, and one already under construction in Boise, would open before any of the fabs in Clay, Micron has said this summer in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That agreement also allowed Micron to shift part of its federal grant from the Clay to the Boise project. The company said a year ago it would spend $4.6 billion of that grant in Clay; now, that number has dropped to $3.4 billion. Bob Petrovich, the executive director for the county agency, said it’s not unusual for big projects like Micron’s to be delayed. “These are massive projects that require lots of coordination, lots of design review, lots of moving parts,” Petrovich said today. “Schedules in any project are fluid.” In a hastily called news conference, McMahon told reporters by phone this afternoon that chip companies building in the U.S. are running into labor shortages and realizing that fab construction is generally slower than expected. “The reality of the industry is that it’s taking about three to four years to build a fab,” McMahon said. “The company wanted to provide themselves flexibility in the construction.” The multiyear delay in opening the Clay fabs will also delay the hiring of up to 4,500 employees Micron says it will need to run the plants. “The revised construction schedule for fabs 1 and 2 would push back the arrival of operational workers at the Micron campus,” the company explained. As a result, Micron is delaying the opening of a childcare center for employees by more than two years, from early 2028 to late 2030. Micron says it still plans to complete four fabs by 2041. The company could receive nearly $25 billion in taxpayer subsidies to build the first two fabs. The board of the county development agency voted unanimously today to declare the environmental report complete. On Nov. 17, the board is scheduled to issue its findings on the project, which would require Micron to take a wide variety of measures to mitigate the potential environmental harms. Once those findings are published, other agencies can start issuing Micron the permits it needs to start cutting trees and filling in wetlands on the low-lying site. Petrovich said Micron still plans to start work in December.
