SCHUMER BRINGS KEY JAPANESE SEMICONDUCTOR SUPPLY CHAIN COMPANIES TO CAPITOL TO PITCH EXPANDING IN UPSTATE NEW YORK
Schumer Brought Together Meeting Of Major Japanese Chip Industry Suppliers, Including Tokyo Electron, Canon, Fujifilm, Hitachi, TOK, And Others, To Pitch On Investing And Growing In Upstate NY
Senator Has Worked For Years To Make Upstate NY A Global Semiconductor Leader, Delivering Prestigious Tech Hub Designation To Build Supply Chain, And Says Now Is Prime Time For Japanese Chip Supplier Companies To Invest With Demand For Their Products Soaring From His CHIPS & Science Law, And Partners Like Micron, GlobalFoundries, and IBM Making Historic Investments In NY
Schumer: Upstate NY Has All The Key Ingredients To Make New Semiconductor Supply Chain Companies A Success
As Japanese Prime Minister Kishida visits the U.S. this week in the first visit from a Japanese leader in nine years, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer personally convened at the U.S. Capitol several Japanese companies that supply the semiconductor industry to pitch the benefits of locating in Upstate New York. Schumer said Upstate New York already has the semiconductor infrastructure needed to support new Japanese suppliers thanks to his CHIPS & Science Act and major investments in the state by companies like Micron, GlobalFoundries, Wolfspeed, and IBM – which need new supplier companies to support their operations.
“Locating in Upstate New York means locating at the center of the global semiconductor industry – with everything a company could want right at their fingertips: shovel-ready sites, cheap, abundant, reliable water and power, our top-notch research institutions, a skilled tech workforce, and major investments spurred by my CHIPS & Science Law that are creating significant demand for supplier products. With new semiconductor suppliers, New York will be truly unstoppable and quickly rise to the top of the global semiconductor industry,” said Senator Schumer. “Foreign investment between the United States and Japan has always been a two-way street, and as global reliance on chips increases, we have an opportunity for both countries to power the semiconductor industry by working together. It’s clear—building in Upstate New York means big investments for the semiconductor industry and global economy, no matter if you are in New York or Nagasaki!”
Schumer explained coming to New York would enable Japanese companies to tap into new business opportunities created by investments in new fabs and R&D in Upstate New York and across the country, positioning the state as a global hub of chips manufacturing and supply chains – a gamechanger for the U.S., Japan, and the entire global semiconductor industry. This potential Japanese supplier investment would build on an existing relationship between Japan and New York State in the semiconductor industry, which includes a decades-long partnership between Tokyo Electron and Albany Nanotech, which Schumer discussed directly with TEL’s Global CEO, along with the presence of JSR and Screen in Albany. IBM is also working with Rapidus, a startup funded by the Japanese government, to develop cutting-edge 2-nanometer chip technology that has been innovated at Albany Nanotech.
Attendees at the Schumer-convened meeting included Japanese government officials, Sanjay Mehrotra, President & CEO, Micron and Manish Bhatia, Executive Vice President, Global Operations, Micron, as well as chief executives and other leaders from GlobalFoundries, IBM, Canon USA, EMD Group, Fujifilm Electronic Materials Japan, Hitachi High Tech America, JSR Corporation, JSR Micro, JX Metals Kanto USA, Kioxia, Screen Holdings (DNS), Sumitomo Chemical, Tokyo Electron (TEL), Tokyo Ohka Kogyo (TOK), and Toppan Photomasks Round Rock. Schumer also met with Tony Kawai, Global CEO of Tokyo Electron (TEL), to discuss TEL’s growing investment at Albany Nanotech, including as part of the $10 billion public-private partnership announced late last year, and how he is actively working to make Albany a major hub of the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC).
Schumer added, “My message is clear: if you don’t have a presence in Upstate New York, look here. As majority leader I helped deliver the support needed to help major semiconductor companies like Micron, GlobalFoundries, and IBM grow in Upstate New York, and I’ll do the same now to land the suppliers needed for these chip fab and R&D projects and the broader chip ecosystem to succeed and thrive in Upstate New York. I stand ready to give my support to helping companies making new investments harness all the federal government can offer to chip industry suppliers and will push for further support to build out the global semiconductor industry – with its beating heart right here in Upstate New York.”
Sanjay Mehrotra, Micron President and CEO said, “Yesterday’s event with Japanese suppliers was a powerful display of the United States and Japan’s strong, long-standing partnership in leading global semiconductor supply chain resiliency and security. Micron is proud to be part of the advancement of both countries’ technological leadership and is appreciative of the Japanese government’s continued support for memory. That support has been pivotal in driving mutually beneficial outcomes for both countries. Micron is investing?billions over the coming years to build a leading-edge memory megafab in Clay, New York as well as a high-volume manufacturing fab in Boise, Idaho co-located with our R&D center. We look forward to continuing to work with our Japanese supplier partners to meet this incredible demand and bring co-location benefits to New York, Idaho, and the United States. Thank you to Majority Leader Schumer and Secretary Raimondo for convening this productive conversation.”
Schumer said cooperation between the U.S. and Japan is vital in the semiconductor industry to bolster the greater semiconductor ecosystem and recruiting companies to Upstate New York creates opportunities for both countries to lead the global chips industry. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo addressed the Japanese business leaders earlier in the day of Schumer’s convening to make the case on how the supplier companies can benefit from moving to the U.S. to support the growth of the domestic chip industry, driven by Schumer’s CHIPS and Science Law. Schumer explained that Upstate New York boasts several major benefits key to the success of new Japanese semiconductor companies: access to cheap and reliable power and water, a skilled workforce, world-renowned universities for education and research, and shovel-ready sites in nearly every region of the state—in Central NY near Micron, in the Capital region and Hudson Valley near GlobalFoundries, Albany Nanotech, and IBM, and at STAMP in Western NY, to name a few.
The senator explained the sheer size and scale alone of Micron’s historic $100 billion proposal to construct four state-of-the-art fabs in Clay, creating nearly 50,000 jobs in Upstate New York, will drive unprecedented demand for further semiconductor equipment, materials, and talent. Schumer said this investment, along with others he helped secure like Edwards Vacuum – which thanks to his push plans to invest $300+ million to build a dry pump manufacturing facility to supply the global semiconductor industry – are creating a semiconductor ecosystem in New York.
In addition to attracting major chips manufacturers to Upstate New York, Schumer also secured the Buffalo-Rochester-Syracuse region the prestigious federal Tech Hub designation he created in his CHIPS and Science Act, putting Upstate NY further down the road to becoming America’s semiconductor superhighway and making it a globally-recognized location for investment. The three-region consortium’s “NY SMART I-Corridor Tech Hub” is bringing together the combined assets of Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse to build on the historic investments Schumer delivered to spur semiconductor manufacturing and innovation, focused on improving the quality and quantity of semiconductor manufacturing and, along with it, amplifying the region’s microelectronics and microchip supply chain ecosystem.
Schumer has fought tirelessly to uplift Upstate New York as a major hub to lead the nation in semiconductor manufacturing and research, including advocating for Albany Nanotech to become a major hub for the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) in his CHIPS and Science Law. Most recently, the senator helped announce a $10 billion public-private partnership with leaders from the semiconductor industry – including IBM, Micron, and Tokyo Electron – to bring a major new expansion to Albany Nanotech, spurred by the upcoming NSTC competition funded by his CHIPS and Science Law, an effort Schumer discussed directly with Tokyo Electron’s Global CEO during his meetings with Japanese business leaders.
Thanks to Schumer’s CHIPS and Science Act, Upstate New York has seen a major revival in tech manufacturing. Micron has announced plans for a historic $100 billion investment to build a cutting-edge memory fab in Central New York. Wolfspeed recently opened the first, largest, and only 200mm silicon carbide fabrication facility in the world in the Mohawk Valley. In addition, Upstate New York is home to suppliers like Corning Incorporated, which manufactures glass critical to the microchip industry at its Canton and Fairport, NY plants, and Edwards Vacuum, which has announced a proposed $300+ million investment to build a dry pump manufacturing facility to support the chip industry in Western New York.
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