Even a blip of power outage could cost Micron’s fabs thousands of dollars in ruined chips

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WSYR-TV) — The man in charge of Micron’s expansion to Central New York sat before U.S. senators this week to talk about how critical electricity will be to the success of the Town of Clay megafab campus.

Scott Gatzemeier, corporate vice president of U.S. Expansion at Micron, was among the panel of four testifying before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. The topic was the growing demand for electricity as the U.S. reinvigorates domestic manufacturing.

Gatzemeier explained why Micron chose Central New York.

He said: “One of the reasons why we made the decision to go there is there’s a nuclear power plant 40 miles directly north of our facility with a direct-line connection to a 345-KV substation across the street from that site. In looking at it, it was one of the most reliable substations on the grid.”

Even before Micron was announced as the company coming to the White Pine Commerce Park, the site was touted for its access to power and water.

Micron’s factories will run constantly: 24 hours per day, seven days per week, 365 days per year. Gatzemeier shared what a moment without power will do.

He said: “I’ve also had the opportunity to recover a fab from a minor power blip, milliseconds, tens of millions of dollars of product loss in that fab recovery. This would be on the order of hundreds of thousands of dollars product loss on these larger facilities that we will be building.”

Micron is asking the federal government and its partners to modernize the grid and expand its capacity, as more manufacturing calls for more power supply.

Utility leaders at the panel indicated that more traditional fossil fuels are needed to supplement the more modern, environmentally-friendly forms.

“We need to be looking at all sources of sustainable energy,” said Gatzemeier. “Looking at nuclear, small module reactors, investing in that, investing in improved battery storage technology for wind and solar.”

Gatzemeier was asked about Micron’s commitment to green production. The company plans to use 100% renewable energy in U.S. operations by the end of 2025.

Powered by News Channel 9.