Inficon, CenterState CEO, Onondaga County leaders react to the $40 million tech-hub award

DeWITT, N.Y. — Hannah Henley, president of Inficon Inc. in DeWitt, says she came to Central New York from out of state about 18 years ago for a “really great engineering education” and never thought she would stay in the region.

She landed a job working at Inficon and has been in the area ever since.

Henley was among the speakers as Inficon hosted Tuesday’s announcement about the Buffalo-Rochester-Syracuse tech hub — the NY SMART I-Corridor Tech Hub — winning a federal award of $40 million to help spur chip manufacturing activity through workforce development, supply chain companies, and commercialization.

Henley told those gathered that she spent the first 10 years of her career supporting the semiconductor market in Asia.

“And we are so energized … [to] do the same thing now in our back yard [in the Upstate region],” she added.

She believes that those involved in tech hub have learned that to solve the really tough challenges in semiconductor manufacturing, it takes partnerships.

“It takes things like innovative device manufacturers. It takes things like wafer-fab equipment companies and also smart manufacturing and sensor companies like Inficon to tackle the really, really difficult job of manufacturing the most advanced chips,” Henley said. “These are the chips that are going to make the difference in the future of health care, agriculture, mobility, as well as computing. There’s no better thing to work on.”

The NY SMART I-Corridor Tech Hub spans across the Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse regions and has engaged more than 100 institutions, including commitments from industry, academia, labor, nonprofit, government, and other private-sector members.

The event speakers also included Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon who told the gathering that the $40 million award is “going to make us more competitive.”

“It’s going to make our workforce stronger and more inclusive. It’s going to create opportunities for a startup ecosystem but also for companies that are here, and then that makes us more competitive as we’re courting companies across the world,” McMahon said.

In his remarks, Robert Simpson, president and CEO of CenterState CEO, praised the work of Schumer for his legislative efforts, including the legislation that became the CHIPS & Science Act that includes the tech-hub program.

“Senator Schumer is responsible for helping to deliver this tech hub to the entire upstate New York corridor,” Simpson said in his remarks.

He also went on to say, “When we work together, we win,” whether it’s in Central New York or all across upstate New York. He acknowledged the efforts of Dottie Gallagher, president and CEO of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, Joseph Stefko, president of ROC2025 and NY SMART I-Corridor Tech Hub regional innovation officer, and Ben Sio, senior vice president for strategy, policy, and planning at CenterState CEO.

“It is these kinds of collaborations that allow us to be better than what we have been in the past; to transcend that historical perspective of upstate New York; and to craft this region with a new vision as … New York’s semiconductor superhighway,” Simpson said.