New York Tech Cities to Get $40 Million in Federal Funds

(TNS) — With $40 million in federal funds now promised, Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse are eager to make a bigger push into the semiconductor industry.

The three-region application, under the NY SMART I-Corridor banner, was among 12 regions awarded funding through the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s “technology hub” competition.

“This is truly fuel in our tank to move forward faster together,” said Dottie Gallagher, president and CEO of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership. “We believe this is the beginning of many exciting opportunities and a way to work together to truly build our communities.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer welcomed the funding allocation during a news conference Tuesday at the Northland Workforce Training Center.

“There is no greater national appeal than being a technology hub,” Schumer said.

Schumer said he recently met with representatives of tech companies from Japan and Taiwan. “They want to know more about New York because they know we’re leading the way and we’ve already attracted big companies.”

Here’s where the work of the technology hub partners will go beyond awarding funding:

• The upstate New York partners see the $40 million as “seed money” to implement their strategy to grow the semiconductor industry. New York state is providing $8 million to support the plan. And the upstate New York partners are committed to securing additional funding.

Robert Simpson, president of CenterState CEO, a Syracuse-based economic development organization, said being one of the tech hubs that received funding “sends a pretty strong signal to the market that these are the 12 hubs in the country that are most prepared to execute today.”

“This validation is very helpful whether we are reaching out to another federal agency, the state, a philanthropic partner or a corporate partner,” Simpson said.

The NY SMART bid sought about $54 million from the tech hub program, but two of the proposals in its application were not funded.

“We were fully prepared for the fact that not all of the projects were going to get funded, and we tried to design them in a way that the strategy would hold,” Gallagher said. “I think we all said that whatever project is not going to get funded, we’re going to have to figure out a strategy to get it done some other way. We’re not going to complain about $40 million, let’s put it that way.”

Two of the 12 tech hubs received allocations lower than NY SMART. Four of the tech hubs received $51 million each, the highest amount ever.

When the 31 tech hubs were announced — out of 400 applicants — it was expected that between five and ten of them would receive funding.

The original federal legislation creating tech hubs, championed by Schumer, authorized $10 billion for the program, but only $500 million of that has been funded so far. Joseph Stefko, president and CEO of ROC2025, a Rochester-based alliance of economic development groups, said the authorization of the larger amount is a positive signal for future federal funding.

“It makes me optimistic that as we prove the benefits of this program and actually put it into practice, there will be a willingness to continue to invest,” Stefko said.

• As with the application process, collaboration across the three regions of upstate New York will be essential to moving the semiconductor program forward.

“I think we’ve built that trust within these communities and we’re in a really good position to execute on our plans,” said Benjamin Sio, senior vice president of strategy, policy and planning for CenterState’s CEO. “The hard part is executing on our plans. We’ve gotten through the tough part of the competition, but now we have to deliver on our promises.”

“Yes, it’s great that we’re one of the 12, but now we’re one of the 12 with the spotlight on us,” Sio said.

Each region will be responsible for leading an element of the work across all three regions.

The University at Buffalo will lead efforts to strengthen the semiconductor industry supply chain. Monroe Community College will lead efforts to develop the workforce for semiconductor industry employment. And Syracuse University will lead efforts to commercialize semiconductor technologies.

“Each of these institutions recognizes that their role is to lead this project, not on behalf of what happens within their four walls or just within their community, but on behalf of the entire corridor,” Stefko said. “Each of these investments is about the entire corridor.”

• Massive new investments in semiconductors are expected to generate opportunities for suppliers.

Outside of Syracuse, Micron Technology has unveiled plans for a chip manufacturing complex near Syracuse that could reach $100 billion in investment. To the west, Intel is investing $20 billion in two chip manufacturing sites near Columbus, Ohio. The NY SMART corridor runs between these massive investments.

Inside the corridor, Edwards Vacuum is building a $319 million plant in Genesee County to produce dry pumps for the semiconductor industry.

Among all the new, large-scale projects, the technology hub program aims to help existing manufacturers adapt their operations to enter the semiconductor supply chain, Gallagher said. That’s the mission of the Supply Chain Activation Network, or SCAN, which UB will lead for the three regions.

“Some of them may not even realize there’s an opportunity in this region,” Gallagher said. “I think there’s a huge opportunity for our traditional manufacturers to be able to adapt and grow in this region.”

©2024 The Buffalo News, distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.