Subsidy Sheet: Concerns Grow Over Micron Plant’s Impact on Budget

August 8, 2025

Micron Technology’s deal with New York State to build a massive computer chip plant near Syracuse can be a bit confusing, not least because the company only has a “non-binding term sheet” that doesn’t actually commit it to spend $100 billion in the town of Clay as it suggested it would in order to land state and federal subsidies. And more questions continue to be raised about exactly what the impacts of the plant, if it ever gets built, would be:

The total public subsidy on Micron remains a moving target, since much of the money would come in the form of tax credits that would only kick in once the company spends funds. (Syracuse Post-Standard has estimated taxpayers could end up covering 40% of the company’s first phase of construction.) If it maxes out its public funding, Micron could be in line for, according to an exhaustive Empire Center report from February:

  • Up to $5.5 billion in “Green CHIPS” state tax credits, passed in 2022 at the end of the legislative session with no hearings or debate.
  • $4.9 billion in sales and use tax abatements, including on all construction and building materials.
  • $284 million in property tax abatements.
  • Up to $200 million in state money for local roadway improvements — a figure that has since risen to $375 million.
  • Discounted electricity through the New York Power Authority’s ReCharge NY program, which could be worth upwards of $3 million more every year.
  • About $180 million in other sundry benefits, including a $5 million “façade grant” for “exterior improvements to the on-site structure.”

All of this is contingent on Micron’s actual construction plans, which remain a mystery. It is hiring tree removers and putting up a big ol’ sign, however, and who can put a price on that?

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More NY corporate giveaway news from this week:

  • The NYC Independent Budget Office analyzed the city’s Industrial and Commercial Abatement Program and determined that it cost NYC $609.2 million in lost property tax revenue in fiscal year 2025 and $6.167 billion (in 2024 dollars) since ICAP was established in 2008. Estimating that only around 22.9% of ICAP projects wouldn’t have taken place without the property tax subsidy, IBO comes up with new revenue from these projects of $3.764 billion — resulting in a net loss to the city of $2.4 billion and a conclusion that “City tax revenues would rise if [ICAP] were eliminated.” At the same time, while IBO reports that ICAP does work to encourage commercial development in the city, it often does so at the expense of residential construction, which it makes less lucrative by comparison, something that Crain’s noted means tax breaks like ICAP “could make it harder for New York to build its way out of its housing shortage.” 
  • Two months after Empire State Development decided not to charge Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park developer Greenland USA millions of dollars in monthly fines for blowing a deadline to complete affordable housing at the project, which received $200 million in special property tax breaks, ESD has now decided not to fine Greenland for blowing a new deadline to transfer development rights to a new developer. The reason, an ESD spokesperson told Gothamist: “Progress has been made.”
  • Gov. Hochul announced $3.8 million in grants, mostly through the Excelsior Jobs Program, for Garonit Pharmaceutical to build a $46.1 million disinfectant factory in New Windsor near Newburgh. Chlorhexidine, the antiseptic that will be made there, is “very toxic to aquatic life and is non-biodegradable,” according to a 2023 journal article. 

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