Event in San Francisco is the largest semiconductor and micro-electronics trade show and exhibition in the country
by Austin Wheelock | ooc@oswegocounty.org
As part of Oswego County’s investigation into the investments needed to attract businesses in the semiconductor supply chain industry, a team consisting of the chairman of the Oswego County Legislature, James Weatherup, and the executive director of Operation Oswego County and CEO of the Oswego County Industrial Development Agency, Austin Wheelock, traveled to San Francisco July 9 – 11 to participate in SEMICON West. This was Oswego County’s first time attending this event and allowed key county government and economic development representatives to get first-hand knowledge of the size and magnitude of the semiconductor supply chain as well as understand what those businesses are looking for when making a decision to expand or relocate.
Here are our observations:
What is SEMICON West?
SEMICON West is the world’s largest and longest running semiconductor and microelectronics trade show and exhibition event. Started in 1971 and held annually in San Francisco, it attracts more than 22,000 visitors from all over the globe, including the 3,000 SEMICON member organizations and more than 500 semiconductor supply chain business exhibitors. The three-day event is a who’s who of leaders of the industry as 80% of SEMICON’s visitors are C-level executives, top purchasers and manufacturers. While both main floors of the Moscone Center were filled with exhibiting businesses promoting everything from printed circuit boards to vacuum pumps, CEOs and senior vice presidents of companies like Intel, Global Foundries and Micron — along with state governors and top economic development officials — were making pitches and presentations about the newest technologies within the industry and investments taking place across the globe.
New York state’s strong showing
While it was Oswego County’s first time at SEMICON West, New York state has been participating for more than 20 years and it was apparent with the professionalism and organization of the New York state booth and team.
Oswego County representatives were part of the New York team of more than 60 attendees representing dozens of organizations including Empire State Development and the New York State Economic Development Council, along with many county and regional economic development organizations and education partners across the state.
New York’s slogan of “America’s Semiconductor Comeback Begins in New York” could be seen in marketing all over the facility as well as during the New York CEO Summit keynote speech.
The New York booth had the most prominent location entering the exhibition space and the amount of activity of companies and entrepreneurs interacting with what New York has to offer the semiconductor industry was very positive. Information about the Micron investment as well as other semiconductor wins like Global Foundries, Wolfspeed, Edwards Vacuum and others were prominently displayed around the booth. There was also an interactive New York state GO-SEMI asset map that showed the location of existing industry assets, educational institutions, shovel ready development sites and other important resources that make New York an ideal location for new semiconductor companies.
Semiconductor supply chain is vast and complex
Walking the exhibition floor, it was remarkable and informative to see how many different technologies and suppliers it takes to make a very small microchip. The semiconductor supply chain is one of the most complex and geographically distant supply chains in the global economy. With most of the semiconductor manufacturing currently taking place in Asia — specifically Taiwan, China, Japan and Korea — it will take a significant investment into US supply chain infrastructure to support expanded domestic semiconductor manufacturing at Micron, Intel, Samsung and TSMC, among others.
Companies will need to expand to make tooling for the various machinery that create everything from silicon wafers to printed circuits, to provide ongoing equipment service and maintenance, to perform testing, to assemble and package the products and to store and distribute the raw materials as well as finished goods.
These products and services also have a supply chain that extends beyond semiconductors that provide a host of new opportunities for Oswego County.
While every semiconductor supply chain business has different needs, Oswego County’s plentiful water and power resources along with access to the Port of Oswego are unique competitive advantages that puts us on the map for companies looking to expand.
Many productive conversations took place with companies during and after SEMICON West about how Oswego County and Central New York could be a great opportunity and location for their future growth with the addition of Micron’s $100 billion investment.
Preparation and collaboration
Oswego County has a lot of work to do to get ready for the Micron investment just a few miles to the south in Onondaga County.
As identified above, there are many opportunities for Oswego County business growth and the accompanying residential growth — but those opportunities will only be fully realized with strategic investments and collaborations with key stakeholders.
We have a lot to do to prepare — we need to aggressively grow and prepare a workforce, we need to solve barriers to employment like affordable childcare and transportation, we need to prepare shovel-ready sites for a host of new industrial and commercial business opportunities, we need to grow our housing stock to accommodate not only our current housing demands, but those of a not-too-distant future growing regional population. We also need to work on strengthening and adding to our quality of life assets that will make Oswego County a place of choice to live, work and play.
These issues are difficult and take time and considerable resources to address but we have a great team of partners and stakeholders already working together as part of the Oswego County Micron Strategy Steering Committee.
This group has been meeting since shortly after Micron’s announcement and earlier this year released its annual report. The effort is being led by SUNY Oswego and includes more than 30 stakeholders from the public, private and nonprofit sectors, local, regional and state representatives and experts in their field from economic development, community development, workforce development, education, transportation, childcare, housing, healthcare, among others working together to address these challenges and help develop solutions.
There is already significant progress underway with initiatives like industrial park expansion and shovel–ready site development, workforce development program expansion, education institution alignment and investments, an Oswego County housing study, and many other efforts that will help grow our economy and improve the quality of life for residents and visitors alike.
Getting back to SEMICON West, the team from Oswego County is already planning for next year’s event and will come back bigger, stronger and more prepared to showcase all that Oswego County has to offer to the semiconductor industry.
Austin M. Wheelock, certified economic developer (CEcD), is the executive director of Operation Oswego County, Inc. For more information, call 315-343-1545 or visit www.oswegocounty.org.
