Syracuse-Rochester-Buffalo region competing for Tech Hub designation

The Syracuse-Rochester-Buffalo regions are working together as one to become a federally recognized Tech Hub through a nationwide competition created in the CHIPS & Science legislation.

It’s a “first-of-its-kind” contest, the office of U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) said in a Thursday announcement.

Their proposal is entitled the New York Semiconductor Manufacturing and Research Technology Innovation Corridor Consortium (NY SMART I-Corridor), Schumer’s office said. It would build on the “historic investments Schumer delivered that have spurred a boom” in semiconductor manufacturing and innovation investments in upstate New York.

The three-region proposal would use targeted federal assistance to help attract new companies, strengthen domestic supply chains, launch startups and support innovation, expand workforce training, connect underserved communities to good-paying jobs, and “revive this critical industry integral to America’s national security and economic competitiveness,” per Schumer’s office.

His office says Schumer has personally written to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo on behalf of Syracuse, Buffalo, and Rochester, making the case that their proposal is “best suited” to help drive forward stronger semiconductor and broader microelectronics industries for the entire nation.

“From Syracuse to Buffalo to Rochester the I-90 corridor has everything it takes to become America’s semiconductor superhighway. The NY SMART I-Corridor Tech Hubs proposal would tap into Upstate NY’s booming microchip industry, training our workforce for tens of thousands of good-paying jobs and supercharging R&D, all while helping attract new major employers in supply chain industries and bringing manufacturing in this critical industry back to America,” said Senator Schumer. “Each city has superb academic centers and each brings with it a unique set of assets with Micron’s historic investment in Central NY, Rochester as one of the leading centers in research & innovation, and Buffalo as one of the great manufacturing powerhouses that built America in the last century and is primed to do the same this century. Together they are a killer combination that can make Upstate NY a global leader for semiconductors with targeted federal investment from the Tech Hubs program.”