By Jarrett Renshaw and Nandita Bose
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden traveled to Syracuse, New York, on Thursday and announced a preliminary agreement with memory chip maker Micron Technology for up to $6.14 billion in subsidies for two chip factories.
The agreement signed by the U.S. Commerce Department will fund facilities in New York and Idaho under the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, which aims to boost domestic manufacturing of chips and reduce reliance on supplies from China and Taiwan.
Biden said the United States used to have 40% of the chips market but over time production moved outside the country and the pandemic exposed weaknesses in the U.S. supply chain that hurt critical industries.
"I'm determined that I'm never going to let us be vulnerable to wait lines again, what is essential is we're going to make it here in America together," Biden said.
The Commerce Department said the federal grants would support the construction of a fabrication plant, or fab, in Clay, New York, a first step toward Micron's plans to invest about $100 billion in New York and create 13,500 jobs.
The grants also provide initial funding for a facility in Boise, Idaho, unlocking a planned $25 billion investment in a fab to be co-located with Micron's research and development facilities there and should create 6,500 jobs, Commerce said.
Micron's investment will be the "largest private investment in New York and Idaho's history," and will create over 70,000 jobs, including 20,000 direct construction and manufacturing jobs and tens of thousands of indirect jobs," the White House said.
Biden, who is running for re-election in November's presidential election, used his visit to Syracuse to tout his administration's efforts to revitalize U.S. manufacturing and strengthen national security.
"American manufacturing is back, new factories are going up all across the country, and communities like Syracuse are writing the great American comeback story," Biden said.
In the evening, the president will speak at a campaign event in Westchester County, New York.
Biden signed the $52.7 billion CHIPS bill in August 2022 to subsidize U.S. semiconductor production and research. Semiconductors were invented in the United States, but domestic companies produce only about 10% of the world's chips and none of the most advanced ones.
The White House said Thursday's announcement also included at least $40 million in funds for training and workforce development, as well as creation of four more workforce hubs in upstate New York, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Michigan.
Under the agreement, Micron committed to providing affordable high-quality childcare for its workers across its facilities.
The company also affirmed "workers' rights to organize, to share feedback without fear of reprisal, and to collectively bargain," the White House said.
(Reporting by Jarrret Renshaw, Nandita Bose and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Tom Hogue and Diane Craft)
