Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our newsletter here.

A collaboration between the cities of Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo will receive a $40 million grant after being named winners of a federal “Tech Hub” competition, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Tuesday.

The funds will go toward the New York Semiconductor Manufacturing and Research Technology Innovation Corridor initiative, investments into the Interstate 90 corridor region to accommodate its growing semiconductor manufacturing industry.

The NY SMART I-Corridor Tech Hub is one of 12 areas across the country that received the federal award. The grant is designated for projects that aim to innovate technology and increase the United States’ economic competitiveness under the Federal CHIPS and Science Act, according to the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s website.

“With this major investment, the feds are shining a national spotlight, and confirming what I have long known, that America’s semiconductor future runs through the heart of Upstate NY along the I-90 corridor,” Schumer said in a Tuesday press release.

Schumer, who proposed the program and secured the Buffalo-Rochester-Syracuse region’s designation as a tech hub in late October, said in Tuesday’s release that the award will fund workforce development along the I-90 corridor, support the existing community and facilitate new supply chains.

Micron Technology announced in February 2023 that it would construct a 1,400-acre, $100 billion semiconductor manufacturing plant in Clay, projected to bring around 50,000 jobs to the region. Since then, central New York has received billions of dollars to promote development in the area ahead of Micron’s arrival, including a $6.1 billion grant through the CHIPS Act in April.

According to Schumer’s release, over 100 institutions across several sectors in the Buffalo-Rochester-Syracuse region, including Syracuse University and SUNY ESF, plan to support the project’s goals. The Tech Hub consortium consists of local universities, tech manufacturers — such as Micron, Lockheed Martin and Wolfspeed – labor groups, workforce development organizations and other community partners.

Schumer’s Tuesday release broke down multiple “key areas” the state plans to address using the funding, including workforce training, supply chain and commercialization.

SU will lead the efforts to use the Tech Hub’s “key commercialization assets and facilities” to promote local business and connect them with resources related to entrepreneurship and semiconductor innovation, the release states. These efforts will primarily target startups as well as small and minority-owned businesses.

“Syracuse University is proud to lead this higher education collaboration that will help drive innovation and establish the NY SMART I-Corridor as a world leading entrepreneurial incubator for the semiconductor industry,” SU Chancellor Kent Syverud said in Tuesday’s release. “This substantial new grant builds on major investments the University is making.”

According to a Wednesday SU News release, SU will direct the NY SMART I-Corridor’s Collaboration and Commercialization Center, or C3. The center — which will also include Cornell University, the Rochester Institute of Technology, the University of Rochester and University of Buffalo — will award grants and establish collaborative partnerships between regional universities and businesses, the release states.

SU Vice President of Research Duncan Brown said in Wednesday’s release that C3 will serve as a “point of entry” for regional businesses to enter the semiconductor supply chain. The center will also establish an online inventory of “semiconductor relevant facilities,” and connections between relevant stakeholders, SU’s release states.

SU’s five-year Academic Strategic Plan includes an increased focus on the university’s STEM programs, which SU leaders have said is tied to Micron’s incoming Clay plant. Mike Haynie, SU’s vice chancellor for strategic initiatives and innovation, previously told The D.O. that the university and the semiconductor manufacturer have established an “academic partnership.”

C3 will also use SU and Onondaga County’s impending, $20 million Center for Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing, which the university first announced it would create in mid-May. The project is part of SU’s over $100 million investment into its STEM programs.

Monroe Community College, located in Rochester, will focus on workforce training and development efforts, according to Tuesday’s release.

MCC will lead the new Semiconductor Talent & Employer Partnership in Upstate New York, or STEP UP initiative, which seeks to prevent a projected job gap in semiconductor manufacturing, according to the release. STEP UP will focus on communities that are underrepresented in the tech industry, the release states.

STEP UP will also propose new academic programs and certificates that will prepare students to work in semiconductor-related industries, such as the Onondaga Community College electrical tech associates degree program developed with Micron, and the MCC precision optics associate degree program, according to the release.

The Tech Hub will also use the funds to expand the capabilities of the region’s existing semiconductor suppliers, the release states.

President Joe Biden awarded over $500 million Tuesday toward the winners of the Tech Hub grant competition, according to a Tuesday White House news release. Only 12 of the 31 Tech Hubs were chosen for the grant as part of the program’s second phase, according to the release. 400 regions applied for the first phase of the program, which determined which would be designated as a Tech Hub, according to Schumer’s release.

The NY SMART I-Corridor Tech Hub consortium has not yet finalized in full detail how it will utilize the $40 million reward, syracuse.com reported. President of CenterState CEO Rob Simpson told the publication that the hub hopes to launch its proposed programs by the end of the year.

Published on July 3, 2024 at 5:16 pm

Contact Julia: jmboehni@syr.edu