The Friday Report Blog: October 7th, 2022

Micron Pledges $100 Billion For Semiconductor Fabrication Plant

Micron has announced plans to build the largest semiconductor manufacturing plant in the United States. The facility will be constructed in Onondaga County, New York and is a long-term project that officials expect to take over 20 years to complete. The first phase, costing $20 billon, is scheduled to be finished by 2030. The company stated that the New York facility will include four cleanrooms totaling over 2.4 million square feet and will supplement memory chip production at their Boise, Idaho facility.

The new plant is part of Micron’s strategy to increase Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) production in the U.S. by 40%. The company believes that increasing semiconductor production will improve the nation’s economic security, innovation, and competitiveness. 

A large portion of the investment funds for the project will come from the CHIPS and Science Act however Micron will also receive $5.5 billion in incentives from the state of New York. In addition, the company and the state will jointly invest $500 million into workforce preparation. 

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BNSF Set to Build $1.5 Billion Intermodal Hub

Freight company BNSF has announced plans to invest over $1.5 billion into the construction of an inland intermodal hub in Barstow, California. The Barstow International Gateway complex will be located on 4,500 acres in California’s High Desert and will help to ease congestion at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. In addition to an intermodal facility, the complex will also hold a rail yard and warehouses for transloading cargo.

BNSF will use the hub to manage cargo traveling along the Alameda Corridor. The rail company believes that this will improve cargo transportation speed as well as reduce truck traffic. They will transport cargo from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to the complex, where goods will be handled before heading to their final destination. BNSF will handle westbound freight at the facility as well. This will enable BNSF to send trains to California ports and terminals more efficiently, which will be beneficial in getting goods to consumers, businesses, and manufacturers in the San Pedro Bay.

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DHL Plans to Hire 12,000 Warehouse Workers for Its Peak Season

DHL Supply Chain has announced that they will hire 12,000 workers to help handle their peak season order fulfillment needs. Of the jobs, 9,000 are for the company’s e-commerce and retail focused warehouses.

DHL also plans to deploy 2,000 collaborative robots from Locus Robotics across its network of warehousing facilities. This is 500 more than in 2021. The company believes that increasing its usage of robots will enhance warehousing throughput and counteract any labor limitations.

UPS has also announced plans to hire 100,000 temporary employees ahead of their peak season schedules. The practice of hiring workers for the peak season is not new, as demand can be up to 5 times higher during the end of the year holiday season.  

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