Biden to announce $6 billion deal with semiconductor maker Micron during trip to Syracuse

The Biden administration announced Thursday that it has reached a preliminary agreement with Idaho-based semiconductor maker Micron, the latest in a series of investments through the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act.

President Biden will travel Thursday to Syracuse, N.Y., where he will tout the benefits of the Micron deal, which includes up to $6.1 billion in federal funding.

The investment will support the construction of two production centers, one in Clay, NY, outside of Syracuse, and another in Boise, Idaho, where Micron is headquartered. The Clay facility will focus on producing cutting-edge DRAM — or dynamic random access memory — chips, while the Idaho facility will be a high-volume manufacturing hub that will produce DRAM chips and will be located near existing research and development facilities. from the company.

“With this proposed investment, we are working to fulfill one of the central objectives of President Biden’s CHIPS program – strengthening the development and production of the most advanced memory semiconductor technology, which is crucial to safeguarding our leadership in artificial intelligence and protecting our economy and national security,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a statement.

The White House said the federal funding is expected to result in manufacturing investment of up to $125 billion in New York and Idaho over the next two decades. The two construction projects are expected to create more than 70,000 jobs, the government said.

Biden’s Thursday trip will mark his second visit to Syracuse to focus on investments in semiconductor manufacturing, which has been a cornerstone of his economic agenda. He last visited the area in October 2022, when he also spoke about Micron’s planned investments in the region.

The Biden administration has been steadily launching new deals with private companies in recent months to invest in semiconductor chip manufacturing in the United States, using funds from CHIPS and the Science Act, which was passed with bipartisan support in 2022.

Biden has repeatedly touted the importance of the CHIPS Act, citing the prevalence of microchips that are used in everyday technology such as phones, cars, appliances and more. Officials said the law is critical to bolstering domestic chip production and making the U.S. less dependent on foreign supply chains.

Management has already reached preliminary agreements with Samsung, Intel, GlobalFoundries and Bae Systems.