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Chip company Micron announces multibillion-dollar facility in Boise

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Three weeks after President Biden signed the CHIPS Act to boost domestic production of semiconductors, chip company Micron has announced that it is building a $15 billion manufacturing plant in Boise, Idaho. Boise State Public Radio's Sasa Woodruff reports.

SASA WOODRUFF, BYLINE: Fifteen billion dollars is a huge investment for Boise, where Micron is based. Mayor Lauren McLean says the company is promising 2,000 jobs here and expects its plant to create 17,000 nationwide.

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LAUREN MCLEAN: It's a big day for the city of Boise, and I'd say it's a big day for our state and our nation too.

WOODRUFF: Emilie Simons, assistant White House press secretary, says the new memory chip plant will help fix supply shortages that emerged during the pandemic.

EMILIE SIMONS: We saw this in real life when cars became harder to find, dishwashers were more on back order.

WOODRUFF: Simons says the CHIPS and Science Act was crucial to Micron building the new plant in the U.S.

SIMONS: They were looking at opportunities in Europe and in other countries where countries had already passed legislation that was meeting them halfway.

WOODRUFF: Micron will fund science and technology education in Idaho from elementary school through college, says Chief People Officer April Arnzen.

APRIL ARNZEN: As you can imagine, hiring another 2,000 direct employees to Micron is going to require a lot of support from our educators in Idaho and across the region.

WOODRUFF: Idaho ranks last in the country for per student spending. Micron also plans to partner with Boise on housing, where prices skyrocketed during the pandemic.

ARNZEN: Housing is a challenge, and we continue to partner with the mayor's office and others to support all of these jobs that we're bringing to Boise.

WOODRUFF: Micron says this investment in Boise is the initial phase of a $40 billion plan to build memory fabrication plants in other parts of the country.

For NPR News, I'm Sasa Woodruff in Boise.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Sáša Woodruff