Binghamton University awarded $1 million to boost semiconductor workforce training
Binghamton University will soon have access to state-of-the-art packaging equipment for its Nanofabrication Laboratory, part of the school's S3IP Center of Excellence.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand announced $1 million in funding to improve workforce training for advanced chip manufacturing and help 100 people receive job training each year.
The purchase of new equipment will allow electronics with sub-micron circuitry to be fabricated, analyzed, and tested by participants from across industry and academia, providing students with the hands-on training to prepare them for careers in semiconductor manufacturing and draw supply chain companies to the Southern Tier.
"With the semiconductor industry booming in Upstate NY, we need to start getting our students the hands-on training now," Schumer said in a statement, "to prepare them to fill these careers to ensure these projects will be a success."
Semiconductor manufacturing in the Southern Tier
This funding is the latest in a steady string of boosts to a growing chip manufacturing industry in New York.
In October 2022, Micron, one of the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturers, pledged to spend up to $100 billion in the next 20 years on a semiconductor manufacturing hub in Clay.
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In July 2023, Menlo Micro announced plans to invest over $50 million to open its first U.S. fab facility in Lansing that is expected to create more than 100 jobs. The company specializes in hyper-efficient switches that have applications in aerospace, energy, communications, infrastructure and consumer electronics.
Gillibrand called investments in workforce training, like the funding for Binghamton University, "vital" to the industry's success.
The NLAB is part of Binghamton University's S3IP Center of Excellence, where 120 companies, 20 faculty members and 60 graduate students conduct technology research. Binghamton University President Harvey Stenger said the investment's impact will stretch beyond the university campus.
“Equipping our laboratories with the latest tools gives our students and our industry partners an important advantage," Stenger said in a statement. "I look forward to seeing our cleanroom serve as a learning space for our own undergraduates as well as high school and community college students from the region.”
This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: NY's growing semiconductor workforce could start in Binghamton
