Syracuse, N.Y. – CenterState CEO’s annual economic forecast breakfasts are often filled with talk about job growth, gross domestic product and government policy. And Thursday’s event at the Oncenter had all that.
But the subject that dominated the discussion was Micron Technology’s $100 billion semiconductor manufacturing plant planned for the Syracuse suburb of Clay.
Three years after choosing the site, Micron held a groundbreaking on Jan. 16, kicking off site work for what will be one of the largest economic developments in New York history.
“This is a big deal,” Ben Sio, CenterState’s senior vice president and chief of staff, told the 725 people at the forecast event.
“Groundbreakings are nice. It’s nice to scoop dirt and it’s nice to scoop snow, which is what we had last week. But the most important part of this groundbreaking is that construction started.”
Amy Liu, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington, D.C., congratulated the region for landing the project, which the company projects will create 9,000 direct jobs and more than 40,000 indirect jobs over the next 20 years. Memory chip production is expected to begin at the plant in 2030.
“Congratulations to all of you for getting to this Micron moment,” she said. “This is huge, and it didn’t happen by accident.”
Liu said the region was “moving quickly into a new high-growth future.”
“And you’re very well positioned to continue to make gains as a result,” she said.
CenterState, a Syracuse-based economic planning and development organization that also serves as the Syracuse area chamber of commerce, said a survey of its member companies showed strong optimism about their own business outlook and the strength of the regional economy.
Sio said 84% see themselves as beneficiaries of an anticipated growth of Central New York’s technology economy, up 13% from last year.
The organization warned, though, that domestic economic conditions were a major obstacle toward growth in Central New York. It flagged these concerns:
Federal policy and regulationsU.S. trade policy — specifically, President Trump’s tariff policies, which are seen as raising costsLabor supply, especially the availability of skilled personnelHousing supply and affordability, particularly with an anticipated growing workforce stemming from the Micron project.
CenterState CEO Robert Simpson called housing a “significant potential throttle” to the region’s growth. He praised Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal last week to ease environmental laws to make it faster and cheaper for developers to build new housing.
“That’s a huge win,” he said.
Amy Liu, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Robert Simpson, president of CenterState CEO, speak to 725 people at CenterState’s 2026 Economic Forecast event at the Oncenter in Syracuse on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (Rick Moriarty | rmoriarty@syracuse.com)Rick Moriarty | rmoriarty@syracuse.com