Schumer touts tech hub designation in upstate New York allowing for millions in federal funds

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) touted part of the Empire State being federally designated as a tech hub and allowing for the region to compete for millions in federal investments.

Schumer said he “pulled out all the stops” to get the Buffalo-Rochester-Syracuse area the federal designation, and he said the induction will have the region “primed to be the next Silicon Valley in critical technology.”

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“I pulled out all the stops to land this Tech Hub Designation for my great home state – making the case that bringing together these three cities and giving them the resources to combine forces would create an unstoppable engine that will rev the region’s industries to life and make Upstate NY a global center for semiconductors,” Schumer said in a statement.

“With this Tech Hubs Designation highlighting the region as one of only a few in the country primed to be the next Silicon Valley in critical technology, combined with federal funding now flooding this triple threat region, America’s semiconductor manufacturing industry truly couldn’t be in better hands,” he added.

The designation, created with the CHIPS and Science Act and signed into law by President Joe Biden in August 2022, allows for the region to apply for additional federal funds to help the semiconductor industry in upstate New York. Schumer said that the upstate New York region was one of 31 selected for this designation, and it will compete for the “next phase” of classification that would allow it to receive $50 million to $75 million in investments.

Stephanie Scarbrough/AP

The New York Democrat touted this initial designation as setting the region up to be “America’s semiconductor superhighway.”

“Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse are officially on the road to becoming America’s semiconductor superhighway. I created this program with Upstate NY in mind, and now three of our own cities that helped build America, have not only won the exclusive federal Tech Hub designation for semiconductors, but also won a once in a generation opportunity to write a new chapter for Upstate NY building our nation’s future,” Schumer said.

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“This 3 region Tech Hub will hit the gas on NY’s booming chips industry by attracting new companies, training our workforce for tens of thousands of good-paying jobs, and bringing manufacturing in this critical industry back from overseas to right here in Upstate NY,” he added.

The NY SMART I-Corridor Tech Hub was one of four hubs named by the Department of Commerce as a tech hub for “regaining leadership in semiconductor manufacturing,” alongside hubs in Texas-Oklahoma, Oregon, and Vermont.