The essential guide to Micron’s chip project in Upstate NY: Timeline, hiring, construction and costs

Syracuse, N.Y. – Micron Technology broke ground today on a massive semiconductor factory complex that could alter the economic landscape of Central New York.

If Micron does what it has promised, it will lead to 20 years of nearly continuous construction on what officials call the largest private development in New York state history.

Today’s groundbreaking was attended by politicians from across the political spectrum, including President Trump’s U.S. Department of Commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick; and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, who pushed through the 2022 CHIPS Act that could provide more than $20 billion in taxpayer subsidies for the Micron project.

Micron says it could spend $100 billion on up to four factories in the town of Clay. That could boost the local economy and bring unprecedented growth — and unprecedented traffic and noise — to Syracuse’s northern suburbs.

The project has already seen several delays. The latest pushes back the opening of the first two factories by two to three years. The first is now projected to open in 2030.

The numbers remain staggering: When the complex is fully operational in 2045, Micron says, it would employ 9,000 people – nearly as many as Upstate Medical University, now the region’s biggest employer.

Up to 40,000 spinoff jobs could be created, from semiconductor supply chains to hotels to schools. More than 4,000 construction workers would be on site at peak construction periods, so many that Micron plans to have them park at the airport and be shuttled to the work site.

That assumes Micron will build four fabrication plants, or fabs. The company now has government funding and approvals to build two of those plants.

In this April 2024 file photo, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer and Micron Technology Chief Executive Officer Sanjay Mehrotra celebrate share a victory pump as President Joe Biden visited Syracuse. N.Scott Trimble | [email protected]N. Scott Trimble | [email protected]

The groundbreaking culminates a vision that began 30 years ago, when Onondaga County started buying land near Route 31 and Caughdenoy Road for a future business park. Three county executives continued to acquire land over the years, often through the threat of eminent domain. The pace accelerated in 2021 and 2022, when Micron became a reality.

Now begins a construction job that could take two decades to complete and sprawl across an area of former farms and swamps three times larger than the New York State Fairgrounds. Micron says it will import nine million cubic yards of gravel and fill – enough to fill the JMA Wireless Dome to the roof four times – to level the low-lying site. The complex at the corner of Route 31 and Caughdenoy Road would have as many parking spaces as Destiny USA.

For each of the four fabs, Micron would use more steel than the Golden Gate Bridge and more concrete than the Pentagon.

That’s just the Micron campus. Onondaga County will spend $1.4 billion or more on an industrial wastewater plant for Micron. It’s the most expensive project the county has ever undertaken, and County Executive Ryan McMahon says Micron will pay for it all.

There’s no guarantee Micron will build all four fabs. The company can tap into $25 billion in taxpayer subsidies to build the first two fabs, but there’s no public money yet for the other two.

Based on Micron’s projections and the extensive environmental review, here’s what we can expect in the coming years.

Construction

Site prep: Micron has hired Gilbane Co., one of the country’s largest construction firms, to ready the site for construction at an estimated cost of $1 billion.

The first job for Gilbane Co. and its subcontractors will be to start clearing 445 acres of forest. Micron’s environmental report said that could take four months, but Gilbane will have to hurry. All tree-cutting must halt on March 31 and can’t resume until Nov.1 because two species of endangered bats use the site to raise their young during the warmer months.

Once the trees are down, Micron will need to haul in about 2 million yards of gravel-like fill to level and stabilize the site, which contains about 200 acres of wetlands. That will be done mostly by truck, with more than 500 trucks going in and out of the site every day on two-lane roads.

Up to 4,000 construction workers could be on site at peak periods.

Factories:

This rendering depicts Micron Technology’s planned semiconductor plant (top) and White Pine Science & Technology Park (bottom) in Clay. The science and technology park will host supply chain companies associated with Micron’s project.in-ARCHITECTS

Work on the first fab, at the northwestern edge of the site, would begin late this year or early in 2027. Fabs would be built in succession; as each is done, it will be outfitted with equipment and start producing chips.

Here’s the projected schedule for each complete fab:

• 2030 first fab
• 2033 second fab
• 2038 third fab
• 2041 fourth fab
• 2045 peak production

Rail spur

Construction also begins soon on a rail spur just across Caughdenoy Road from the main campus. When that’s finished, which is projected to be in late summer, Micron will import the stone aggregate by rail to keep trucks off the road. The fill will be transported across Caughdenoy by a conveyor belt system 18 feet above the road.

Trains will come in and out of the rail spur from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week for 20 years, according to Micron’s plans.

Traffic

Micron Technology is proposing that transportation agencies make major changes to highways in Clay and Cicero, including adding a new exit on Route 481 and running a four-lane access road from there to the Micron campus north of Route 31.Illustration by Christa Lemczak | [email protected]

New exits: The traffic from Micron and all the other newly created jobs would overwhelm current roads. That’s why the state is planning to tackle three areas:

• Create a new exit on Interstate 81 in Cicero
• Redesign the already troublesome intersection of I-81 and Route 31
• Build a new exit on I-481, just east of the CSX rail line.

Widening: Routes 31 and 11 would be widened to four or six lanes.

Jobs

Electromechanical technology degree program graduates who will work at Micron in Boise, Idaho attend Onondaga Community College commencement in the SRC Arena on Saturday, May 17, 2025.(Left to right) RJ Tinsley, Kah-lelle Akins, Hunter Garrett, Sam Pandossi, and Timothy Szarek.Courtesy Onondaga Community College

Construction: Between 2,000 and 4,000 construction workers are expected to be on the site through 2030, according to the final environmental report on the project released in November. The numbers will fluctuate after that, with just a handful of workers at periods between construction of fabs and up to 4,000 during a few peak years in the 2030s.

Operations: A year ago, Micron said it had hired about two dozen people for the Clay project and would ramp up hiring in 2025. That hasn’t happened yet, given that the opening of the first two fabs have been delayed by two to three years. Just one job is listed on Micron’s careers website for Clay, and that’s a remote position.

Before the delays were announced, Micron said it would hire 36 people for the Clay project this year, nearly all of them engineers earning $100,000. Hiring for fab operations begins in earnest in 2028 and 2029, when more than 500 engineers and 200 technicians and support staff would be hired.

Within a decade, Micron says it will have 4,500 employees in Clay.

Utilities

This National Grid substation on Caughdenoy Road in Clay will be expanded to accommodate the ravenous electrical needs of Micron Technology’s chipmaking plant. (Rick Moriarty | [email protected])

Electricity: Micron will use more electricity than the states of New Hampshire and Vermont combined, and it needs that power 24/7. That’s why National Grid plans to expand the substation across Caughdenoy Road and lay eight underground ultra-high-voltage lines – two per fab, for redundancy – under the road.

That work is expected to start in late 2027 and be done in 2033. National Grid says Micron will pay “the substantial majority” of the cost.

Water: Micron projects it would use up to 48 million gallons a day of fresh water if all four fabs are built. That’s more than the entire Onondaga County Water Authority system uses today to serve its 350,000 customers.

OCWA would spend an estimated $550 million to meet Micron’s needs. The agency plans to upgrade local water lines in Clay starting this year and eventually lay a 26-mile-long water line from Lake Ontario.

Industrial wastewater: Micron would discharge 40 million gallons a day of industrial wastewater into a wastewater plant to built by the county.

The county would spend $1.4 billion to $2.6 billion on the plant, according to recent estimates from engineering consultants. It would be the largest single project the county has ever undertaken. County officials say Micron will pay for the plant through user fees.

Construction of the plant would start late this year and be completed in late 2032.

Sewage: The Oak Orchard plant is undergoing a $549 million upgrade, mostly to serve the potential growth of homes and businesses in the Clay area but also to handle Micron’s wastewater.

Onondaga County plans to upgrade the Oak Orchard Wastewater Treatment Plant in Clay to accommodate business and residential growth, and build an industrial wastewater plant for Micron Technology just north of the sewage plant. The industrial plant would be built at the top right of this photo, where a solar panel array now stands.Onondaga County

Timeline

Here’s a brief recap of the major milestones ahead. All of these are subject to change.

• January 2026: Tree-clearing and site preparation begins on the main campus and rail spur.
• Summer 2026: Rail spur opens and work crews start pouring concrete for fab 1 foundation.
• 2027: The county starts work on the industrial wastewater plant that will be designed to remove the toxic chemicals widely used in chipmaking.
• 2028: Construction work starts on fab 2 and on an employees’ child care center just up Caughdenoy Road. Hiring ramps up. OCWA starts work on the second line from Lake Ontario.
• 2029: County completes work on the first phase of the industrial wastewater plant.
• 2030. Fab 1 begins operations and construction begins on fab 2, both late in the year.
• 2033: Fab 2 begins operations.
• 2035: Construction begins on Fab 3. Micron reaches the 4,500-employee threshold, half of what the company says it will ultimately employ.
• 2037: Third fab opens.
• 2039: Construction begins on the fourth and final fab.
• 2041: Final fab is completed.
• 2045. The complex reaches full production.