By Jarrett Renshaw and Nandita Bose
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. president Joe Biden traveled to Syracuse, New York, on Thursday and announced a preliminary agreement with memory chip maker Micron Technology for up to $6.14 billion in subsidies for two chip factories.
The agreement signed by the U.S. Department of Commerce will fund facilities in New York and Idaho under the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, which aims to boost domestic chip production and reduce dependence on supplies from China and Taiwan Reduce.
Biden said the United States used to control 40% of the chip market, but over time production moved abroad and the pandemic exposed weaknesses in the U.S. supply chain that hurt critical industries.
“I am determined that I will never leave us vulnerable to queues again. What is essential is that we make it together here in America,” Biden said.
The Commerce Department said the federal grants would support construction of a plant, or factory, in Clay, New York, a first step toward Micron’s plans to invest about $100 billion in New York and create 13,500 jobs.
The grants also provide initial funding for a factory in Boise, Idaho, unlocking a planned $25 billion investment in a factory that would be co-located with Micron’s research and development facilities there and would create 6,500 jobs create, Commerce said.
Micron’s investment will be the “largest private investment in the history of New York and Idaho” and create more than 70,000 jobs, including 20,000 direct construction and manufacturing jobs and tens of thousands of indirect jobs, the White House said.
Biden, who is running for re-election in November’s presidential election, used his visit to Syracuse to tout his administration’s efforts to revive U.S. manufacturing and strengthen national security.
“American manufacturing is back, new factories are being built across the country and communities like Syracuse are writing the great American comeback story,” Biden said.
In the evening, the president will speak at a campaign event in Westchester County, New York.
Biden signed the $52.7 billion CHIPS bill in August 2022 to subsidize U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and research. Semiconductors were invented in the United States, but domestic companies produce only about 10% of the world’s chips and none of the most advanced ones.
The White House said Thursday’s announcement also included at least $40 million in funding for training and workforce development, as well as the creation of four more workforce centers in New York state, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Michigan.
Under the agreement, Micron has committed to providing affordable, high-quality child care to its employees across all of its facilities.
The company also affirmed “the right of employees to organize, to share feedback without fear of reprisal, and to bargain collectively,” the White House said.
(Reporting by Jarrret Renshaw, Nandita Bose and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Tom Hogue and Diane Craft)
