CCU in the News
Lots of news from our friends in New York state, where Jobs to Move America and Sustain CNY are supporting community response to the recently released draft Environmental Impact Statement of the planned Micron campus in Clay. Advocates say 45 days isn’t long enough for the public to read 19,454 pages and comment on them. We say duh. For more detail, including how to participate in public comment, see below under News from Around the Country.
Chips Communities United is launching a national campaign to stop chip factories from releasing toxic forever chemicals (PFAS) in their wastewater. Arizona Jobs with Justice held the coalition’s first action yesterday, with a press conference in Chandler, Arizona. The Grand Canyon Chapter of the Sierra Club, Organized Power in Numbers, and other partners spoke out about the need to protect the public. Intel releases millions of gallons of waste water a day into the city’s municipal waste system, but the company’s permit with the city of Chandler doesn’t even mention PFAS. These poisonous compounds can end up in our drinking water, ground water, rivers, lakes, streams, and even on fields that grow our crops. Here’s a picture from the press conference.
National News
Ugh. Trump shuttered the federal agency that investigates industrial chemical explosions, the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. Hazardous chemical accidents happen in the U.S. about every other day.
The Commerce Department may revoke waivers allowing chip-makers to export technology to their factories in China. Stocks fell on the news. “Proposed restrictions, discussed with Samsung, SK Hynix, and TSMC, aim to curb access to the $50 billion Chinese AI chip market, with NVIDIA reporting an $8 billion sales loss due to prior export controls. Amid a fragile U.S.-China trade truce, the potential waiver cancellations could disrupt global supply chains, prompting concerns about increased costs and accelerated efforts to reshore semiconductor production.”
Corporate leaders in fields from the auto industry to crypto are pushing back against Pres. Trump’s planned 25% tariffs on imported chips. TSMC said, “Additional tariffs or other restrictive measures on semiconductors could reduce the profitability of leading U.S. companies by limiting sourcing options, driving up production costs, and reducing product demand.”
News from Around the Country
Arizona: The Attorney General has opened an investigation into the Amkor project in Peoria, responding to allegations of zoning violations including illegal gifting of the land to the company.
California: State legislators are considering a bill to ask Pres. Trump and Congress to uphold funding commitments contained in the CHIPS Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Since the enactment of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in 2021, California has been awarded $63 billion for infrastructure improvements. If the programs are reversed, California alone would suffer these costs:
- GDP could fall by $29.67 billion by 2030 if Inflation Reduction Act provisions are repealed.
- Carbon emissions could rise by up to 12 million metric tons by 2035—the equivalent of three coal-fired power plants.
- Household energy costs could rise by nearly $180 annually by 2035, costing Californians more than $6.4 billion in cumulative energy expenses.
Idaho: Everything you ever wanted to know about Micron’s expansion in Boise. 15,000 new jobs, staggering quantities of steel and concrete, and a $200 billion investment (across all three Micron locations).
Indiana: Neighbors are suing over the rezoning of the SK hynix plant, which would put the chip factory right next to a residential neighborhood, schools, and parks. Here’s the website of the new community organization in West Lafayette.
New York: Micron’s planned fab in Clay will be the only semiconductor plant in the country to receive a thorough environmental review, after Congress exempted almost all other projects funded by the CHIPS and Science Act from NEPA Review. (NEPA = National Environmental Policy Act) On Wednesday, Onondaga County released a 19,454-page draft Environmental Impact Statement and gave concerned neighbors 45 days to read and comment on the technical document.
Our allies say the obvious: this isn’t long enough to absorb and comment meaningfully on such a massive project. Here’s more on the growing community concern over the process. Please join the public outcry and demand a longer comment period.
The coalition of labor, environmental, and community organizations in Syracuse, led by the coalition Sustain CNY, has put together a community vision for a strong environmental review of Micron. Organizations can sign on here, and individuals can sign on here.
CCU partner Jobs to Move America will be hosting a town hall meeting in Clay to discuss the environmental review process – Wednesday July 2 from 6:30 to 7:30 pm.
There will also be a town hall in Syracuse later in July, but the time and date haven’t been set yet.
The County will hold its own official hearings on July 24 (from 10 a.m.-1 p.m., 2-5 p.m. and 6-9 p.m.) at Liverpool High School.
Instructions on how to comment are available on the Onondaga County Office of Economic Development website, but CCU’s New York Partners will be providing a more user-friendly method for concerned neighbors to voice their concerns, so stay posted.
Corporate News
Intel: More on the layoffs at Intel, estimated to hit about 10,000 workers. Apparently the previous round of layoffs (about 15,000 employees worldwide were let go last year) was mostly accomplished through attrition, buyouts, early retirement offers, and “voluntary” layoffs, with generous compensation packages, but the current round will offer less money in severance and is likely to lay-off thousands of workers who don’t want to leave the company. As of March, Intel had received $2.2 billion of its CHIPS Act Award (a total of $7.865 billion). Remember that to win this award, Intel promised to create 10,000 manufacturing jobs.
Texas Instruments: TI announces it will invest $60 billion and create 60,000 jobs across three sites in Texas and Utah. Commerce Secretary Lutnick hailed the company’s partnership with the Administration, but Commerce did not update the CHIPS Program Office page for TI or issue a press release. In short, we don’t know if the Commerce Department’s contract with the company has been revised to require the higher investment level.
Wolfspeed: North Carolina-based Wolfspeed is filing for bankruptcy. “Tom Werner, chairman of the company’s board of directors, said on a May earnings call that Wolfspeed is having a ‘constructive dialogue’ with the CHIPS program office to secure federal funding.”
Environmental News
Scientists at Oregon State have published research on methods for analyzing PFAS (toxic forever chemicals) in the wastewater of semiconductor factories. I may be an outlier here, but this is the sort of headline that makes my heart flutter.
Labor and Workforce News
SEMI says that the semiconductor industry will need a million more workers by 2030. And here’s another article that says we’ll need two million more manufacturing workers by 2030. (At CCU, we have a simple solution to the alleged workforce shortage: treat workers better and pay them more. Voila! No workforce shortage!)
Economic News
An amazing graph on private construction investment in manufacturing in the US, demonstrating the boom that followed the passage of Biden’s industrial policy bills in 2022.
Global Politics
A new report on the semiconductor foundry industry finds China catching up fast and likely to reach 30% of global market share by 2030. But on the other hand, this article says that policies by Taiwan and the US are leading companies to decouple their chip strategy from China.
Despite efforts to reshore chip-making, “Taiwan is [still] the beating heart of the global semiconductor supply chain.” If China invaded the island nation, ‘it would effectively strike at the core of the world’s digital infrastructure.”
That’s all for today. See you next week!
