Micron Technology’s decision to build a massive complex of chip plants near Syracuse left many in Central New York ecstatic, but the feelings were less enthusiastic in Lockhart, Texas, one of the other communities that had been competing for the project.
Lockhart, located about 35 miles from Austin in the central part of the state, had been in the running until late in the process, officials said. In fact, Micron filed an application for property tax exemptions in Texas that were believed to be connected to the project, but said later it had done so only to keep its options open.
The company ultimately chose to build at the White Pine Commerce Park off Route 31 in Clay. Officials in Texas were dismayed.
“We’re disappointed and feel like they are making a mistake,” said Caldwell County Judge Hoppy Haden, one of the officials who led Lockhart’s efforts to win the project, according to the Austin Business Journal. “We feel Texas is the best place in the nation for them to put a site.”
Haden said the Lockhart area remains a destination for big business investment, according to KVUE in Austin.
“If you don’t agree and you want to go to Syracuse, so be it,” he said. “We have others who disagree with you and they’re looking pretty hard at that site.”
Micron plans to invest $100 billion in Clay over the next 20 years. The project will ultimately include up to four separate chip manufacturing plants that will employ 9,000 people.
Micron specializes in memory chips used in nearly every electronic device in existence, including everything from smartphones to advanced military weapons systems.
The project represents the largest single private investment in New York history.
Micron will benefit from billions of dollars in incentives for the project, including $5.5 billion in tax credits from New York state alone. Texas had also offered billions.
Lockhart Mayor Lew White said the Micron project would have been particularly beneficial for the city’s school district.
“You know, it could have been a major difference-builder,” White said, according to KVUE. “The burden that we all place on our taxpayers, but especially as a school district, it’s hard to try to pass these bond issues there. School, city, as well to ask people to pay more taxes, the school district particularly is hurting right now for improvements.”
The Micron project is also the type of development officials in Genesee County have been trying to lure to the Science and Technology Advanced Manufacturing Park, known as STAMP, located near Batavia, according to The Buffalo News.
That site was a contender last year for a $17 billion Samsung chip plant that ultimately ended up in Texas, the News said.
READ MORE:
Luring Micron to Syracuse: Dinner in Armory Square, runs along the creek, lots of land and money
Micron picks Syracuse suburb for huge computer chip plant that would bring up to 9,000 jobs
Why Micron picked CNY: Good schools, a diverse workforce and, yes, incentives
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