According to Syracuse, Micron Technology has disclosed that its wafer fab project near Clay, New York, will be significantly delayed again, with production not expected until the end of 2033.
The report cites recent documents released by Micron. If true, this will have a major impact on a key semiconductor manufacturing cluster in New York State, which was originally scheduled to begin production in 2025. However, despite the delay in construction of the Clay fab, Micron is accelerating construction of its Idaho fab and reallocating CHIPS Act funding to the facility.
Said in Environmental Impact Report
According to Micron's draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) officially released in June (the timeline shown below may be outdated), construction of the first wafer fab (Fab 1) will begin at the end of 2026 (with preparatory work starting at the end of 2025, according to the company's U.S. expansion plan announced on July 1, 2025), and will continue until the second half of 2028 or early 2029. Typically, full-scale construction of a wafer fab takes 12 to 24 months, depending on various factors; therefore, the first wafer fab is expected to begin DRAM production around 2030, five years later than initially anticipated.
The same environmental document sets the construction start date for Fab 2 in the second half of 2028, Fab 3 in the second half of 2033, and Fab 4 in the first half of 2039. This means that Micron's clay campus will be fully completed and in full production by 2045, five years later than originally planned.
"Micron will begin preliminary site preparation work for the proposed project in the fourth quarter of 2025. The first two DRAM manufacturing plants (Fab 1 and Fab 2) are expected to be operational in 2029 and 2030, respectively, and the remaining plants (Fab 3 and Fab 4) are expected to be operational in 2035 and 2041," Micron wrote in a statement in its environmental impact report filed in June.
However, if the news from Syracuse is true, Micron's New York project appears to be facing another major delay.
According to the latest environmental documents (not yet officially released) obtained by Syracuse University, the construction period for the first wafer fab will be extended from three to approximately four years. This means that the completion date of Fab 1 will be postponed from the second half of 2028 to the end of 2030. This will naturally slow down the entire project, including recruitment and operational plans. The new plan has reportedly been approved by the Onondaga County Industrial Development Authority, meaning that site preparation work can continue while regulators review the next phase of approvals and tax incentives.
Micron has not specified the reason for the timeline change, but acknowledged that it has amended its $6.1 billion Chip Technology Innovation Act (CHIPS) financing agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce. This amendment reportedly extends Micron's production start-up time in New York by approximately two years because the company is reportedly moving forward the start-up of its ID2 fab in Idaho. The two plants in Idaho—one already built and the other in the planning stage—will be completed before the plant in Clay County, indicating a strategic shift in Micron's project priorities.
Source: Content compiled from tomshardware
