A Virginia legislative panel unanimously approved state incentive packages on Thursday for two manufacturing projects, one in Manassas for semiconductor chips and the other in Lynchburg for lithium ion batteries.
The Major Employment Investment Project Review Commission, known as MEI, approved both packages after a closed-door presentation by state economic development officials, but provided no details about the incentives for the projects, which have not been formally announced.
But U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., one of the authors of the CHIPS and Science Act that Congress passed in 2022 with $52 billion to invest in domestic manufacturing of essential semiconductor chips, confirmed the projects in Manassas — where Micron Technology Inc. operates a plant that just expanded with state support — and Lynchburg, where he said Applied Materials Inc. plans a lithium ion battery manufacturing operation.
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Applied Materials, based in Santa Clara, California, received a $100 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy in November under a program in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to manufacture ion lithium batteries in the U.S. instead of China. Warner was a principal author of the infrastructure act signed by President Joe Biden.
The Micron project involves new technology for semiconductor chips used in automobiles.
“Virginia has long been considered among the best states in the country for business,” Warner said Thursday, “and I’m glad to see companies considering major investments in the commonwealth that will create hundreds of good-paying manufacturing jobs.”
Warner said: “Both are being made possible in no small part because of federal investments from two bills I was proud to author and shepherd into law.”
Christian Martinez, a spokesman for Gov. Glenn Youngkin, said in a statement: “Governor Youngkin and the administration are actively working on several major and exciting economic development opportunities for the Commonwealth. MEI approval is a very important milestone as employers are bringing jobs and strengthening Virginia’s economy. The Governor looks forward to sharing the details of these projects when they are ready.”
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said in a statement: “I was proud to help pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act to boost domestic manufacturing. It’s great to see that legislation spur additional investments in Virginia to help create good-paying jobs and grow our economy. I’ll continue pushing to make sure Virginia benefits from the many provisions of these laws.”
Micron project in Manassas
Warner said Micron plans to apply for a U.S. Commerce Department grant from the CHIPS Act funding, but has not yet received it. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Micron, based in Boise, Idaho, is receiving $6.1 billion in CHIPS Act funding for semiconductor projects in Syracuse, New York, and Idaho.
“It will be the biggest memory chip plant in America,” Schumer said of the New York project, according to The Associated Press. “For the Syracuse area, this is the best thing that’s happened probably since the Erie Canal.”
Details about the Virginia projects were scant after an hourlong presentation by Jason El Koubi, president and CEO of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, to the MEI Commission. Thursday was the commission’s first meeting since it endorsed a $2 billion sports and entertainment district in Alexandria for the owner of the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards professional sports franchises.
That $2 billion deal fell apart, and the teams chose to remain at their home at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. The General Assembly refused to back legislation that Youngkin proposed to create a state authority to issue bond financing for the project.
Senate Finance Chair Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, blocked the arena project from being heard by her committee or being included in the revised budget for the current fiscal year. She said she took the actions, in part, because she was not a member of the MEI Commission when it voted unanimously in December to pursue the project. Now, Lucas is chair of the project review panel.
“Well, that went rather smoothly,” she said after the commission completed its work on Thursday.
House Appropriations Vice Chairman Mark Sickles, D-Fairfax, a member of the MEI who voted on the sports district package in December, said the commission’s action had been misrepresented as a unanimous endorsement of the arena project. Instead, he said the vote only authorized the state to pursue the project as a way to bring the NHL and NBA franchises to Potomac Yard in Alexandria.