DeWITT, N.Y. — U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D–N.Y.) on Tuesday announced a $40 million federal award for the Buffalo-Rochester-Syracuse tech hub, known officially as the NY SMART I-Corridor Tech Hub. The millions in federal funding are meant to “further position Upstate [New York] as a semiconductor center for the world,” Schumer’s office said […]
DeWITT, N.Y. — U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D–N.Y.) on Tuesday announced a $40 million federal award for the Buffalo-Rochester-Syracuse tech hub, known officially as the NY SMART I-Corridor Tech Hub. The millions in federal funding are meant to “further position Upstate [New York] as a semiconductor center for the world,” Schumer’s office said in the Tuesday announcement. “We are making I-90 America’s semiconductor superhighway, and in a few years, a quarter of all the chips manufactured in the United States will be along this corridor,” Schumer said in his remarks. The lawmaker announced the funding during a morning visit to Inficon Inc. at 2 Technology Place, off Fly Road in the town of DeWitt. “This is a monumental day for upstate New York,” Schumer said to open his address. “One that I have long envisioned and spent years fighting for.” The NY SMART I-Corridor Tech Hub is the “first in the nation” to receive a major tech-hub award from Schumer’s CHIPS & Science Law, the Democrat noted. Schumer had announced the tech-hub designation for the Buffalo-Rochester-Syracuse during a visit last October to Saab Inc’s Syracuse operations in DeWitt. The tech-hub designation was created as part of the federal CHIPS & Science Law. When the competition started, 400 regions applied for the funding and 31 were designated tech hubs. Only 12 are getting advanced financing for the tech-hub program, Schumer said. “It’s going to train the next generation of our workforce. It’s going to fill in gaps to make sure that Micron’s $100 billion investment not only attracts new supply-chain companies but also helps existing companies grow and enter into the semiconductor field,” Schumer told those gathered at Inficon, including local officials and Inficon employees watching on the stairs and from the upper floors. He went on to say that the funding will help power new startups as we commercialize the research and activities done by some of the regions companies and chip fabrication plants, including Inficon. The senator called the award prestigious, noting that when international firms look to have a location in the U.S., they’ll look at the regions with a tech-hub designation, including upstate New York. “I met with a whole group of Japanese semiconductor suppliers and a whole bunch of Taiwanese semiconductor suppliers, 20 or 30 of each, and pushed our I-90 semiconductor superhighway, so it really helps,” Schumer said. He also boasted that, “It sure didn’t hurt to have the [U.S.] Senate Majority Leader calling the White House and the Commerce Secretary [Gina Raimondo] to tell them upstate New York is the perfect choice for the future of [American] chips.” Standing around Schumer and speaking at the event included Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon; Hannah Henley, president of Inficon, Inc.; Robert Simpson, president and CEO of CenterState CEO; J. Michael Haynie, vice chancellor for strategic initiatives and innovation at Syracuse University; Greg Lancette, president of the Central-Northern New York Building & Construction Trades Council; and Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh.