Menlo Micro, Micron represent opportunity for Ithaca's manufacturing workforce to grow

Menlo Micro announced in July an over $50 million investment to open a fabrication facility at 36 Thornwood Drive in the village of Lansing, just north of the city of Ithaca.

The company is preparing to begin manufacturing in Lansing this year, already having invested about $26 million in the site that formerly housed Kionix Inc., which manufactured micromachines and sensors.

Ithaca Area Economic Development staff estimate that the 120 projected positions at Menlo Micro’s Lansing Facility could create $18 million in direct wages and $28 million in direct spending in Tompkins County over the next three years.

This predicted economic growth is being fostered by local lawmakers and officials who must pave the way for amenities such as natural gas at the site, and ready a workforce to man manufacturing equipment in positions ranging from entry-level to those requiring years of experience.

Banding together to grow and prepare for Semiconductor boom

Lewis Boore, senior vice president of Government Affairs & Strategic Market Development at Menlo Micro, said in a recent interview how Lansing will soon become the Core site for Menlo, and that the village will make the perfect jumping-off point for the company for several reasons.

“First of all, it’s hungry, and we’ve been boots on the ground since July, making connections at the federal level and with the Tompkins Chamber of Commerce,” Boore said. “I think the key is that it’s such a seismic shift in regard to people wanting to grow technology here. You’ve got Cornell here, you’ve got veterans coming back and living in the area, but still the biggest problem is workforce.”

Menlo isn’t the only company working towards bolstering the manufacturing workforce of Central New York.

It will grow alongside a consortium of manufacturers in the area that commit to workforce development goals in the area.

“We’re all part of the large Micron Consortium, which is called the ‘Future-Ready Workforce Innovation Consortium’ a 10-county workforce development consortium that Micron has put together (in partnership with Syracuse University) to help prepare the state and our region for the semiconductor industry,” Danielle Szabo, Director of Workforce Innovation at Ithaca Area Economic Development (IAED), said Friday. “Micron will be one of the largest economic development projects in this region.”

Manufacturing companies C&D assembly, BorgWarner, Knickerbocker, Incodema 3D, STORK, THERM, Lansing Instruments, and Precision Filters are part of the consortium.

As for Menlo Micro, they're finalists on the NY SMART I-Corridor Tech Hub, which is up for a $75 million state grant.

The economic development organization’s Direct to Work program was created in response to the consortium and ongoing investments into the state’s manufacturing industry, teaching technical skills through both physical tools and virtual reality, as well as trips to local manufacturers and direct job placement after completing the program.

Micron announced in 2022 a historic $100 Billion investment in Clay, to build a memory fabrication facility over 2,400,000 square feet in size by the end of the decade, after receiving over $5.5 billion in incentives from the state of New York.

The act, passed in August 2022, included provisions encouraging companies to reshore critical tech manufacturing operations to the U.S. Garcia, Menlo Micro’s CEO, said the fab modernization project aligns with the Biden Administration's push to bring semiconductor manufacturing to American soil.

“There’s going to be a high need for those jobs and we also have smaller employers here that will be opening up sooner, so the idea is to get all the educational workforce partners aligned into curriculum and certifications to start working with local employers now, and then evolve that once Micron is ready to start hiring for their entry-level and mid-skill positions, which will be technicians and engineers,” Szabo said.

Empire State Development is supporting Menlo’s construction in Lansing with $6.5 million in performance-based Excelsior Jobs Tax Credits.

What’s next for Menlo?

Menlo Micro is headquartered in California. It considered sites in New York, California, Florida and Texas before finding a home in Tompkins County. The company’s investors include nearby Corning Inc., which manufactures glass for the microchip industry.

Boore estimated the facility would produce about 2000 wafers each month once in full operation.

“We do everything with glass, so Corning is an investor, they’re a partner, and we’re their customer,” Boore said. “Some of the things we’ll do that will grow us here is not only expand the fab, 7000-square-feet of clean room that will be done sometime late this year.”

Boore explained how the company endeavors to create a glass center of excellence at the Thornwood Avenue facility, taking advantage of a nascent consortium of glass production companies that would benefit Menlo among other chip fab sites throughout the region.

The company currently conducts research and development at the Albany Nanotech Complex, which is pending designation as one of the nation’s first National Semiconductor Technology Centers.

The facility is led by the State University of New York’s NY CREATES, which serves as a resource for public-private and academic partnerships around the globe.

“We’re involved with  New York Creates and the economic development here, and now with Center State and The I-Smart Corridor," Boore said. "Those organizations are all pretty new, but thanks to (Governor) Hochul, Senator Schumer and Senator Gillibrand, there’s money to make this happen.”

This article originally appeared on Ithaca Journal: 120 manufacturing jobs coming to Tompkins County