Governor Glenn Youngkin | Governor.Virginia.gov

RICHMOND, Virginia – Today, Governor Glenn Youngkin applauded the launch of Micron's Minority Serving Institutions (MSI) Semiconductor Network and a new partnership with Micron, GlobalFoundries and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) that will provide funding opportunities to MSIs across the country – including Norfolk State University, Hampton University and Virginia State University.

“Micron is a valued business partner of Virginia's education system, with a long history of investment in Virginia's HBCUs, including its support of the Micron-Norfolk State University Nanofabrication Cleanroom,” the governor said Glenn Youngkin. “Private sector leadership is essential to bringing STEM opportunities and innovation to our higher education institutions, and Micron's latest announcement is another demonstration of its commitment to expanding opportunities, increasing access and to embrace innovation in Virginia.

“Micron invests in people and partnerships to expose learners of all backgrounds to opportunities they might not otherwise have. The inclusion of three local HBCUs in Micron’s MSI Semiconductor network further strengthens our long-standing support of education in Virginia,” said April Arnzen, executive vice president and chief human resources officer at Micron and president of the Foundation. Micron. “We are honored to see initiatives like Micron's MSI Semiconductor Network that are at the forefront of our industry's efforts to prepare the semiconductor workforce and research ecosystem to respond to the growing demand for talent, recognized by government leaders in the United States and around the world.

On May 21, Micron launched its MSI Semiconductor Network, a partnership with 15 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), and Asian American, Native American, and Islander Serving Institutions of the Pacific (AANAPISI) to grow the STEM Talent Pipeline and build a more robust and inclusive semiconductor-ready workforce. The MSI Semiconductor Network founding partners were identified based on their strong collective undergraduate and graduate programs in engineering and other STEM degrees. Spanning eleven states and the District of Columbia, they bring together thousands of undergraduate and graduate STEM students, access to teaching labs and cleanrooms, and a foundation for collaboration between the institutions.

Micron and the Micron Foundation have a long-standing commitment to MSI partners, including funding the Nanofabrication Cleanroom at Micron-Norfolk State University, creating the Micron Academy of Inclusive Leadership programs at Spelman College and supporting student experiential learning programs at Northern Arizona University and Howard University. A number of Micron executives currently serve on MSI Semiconductor Network boards and technical committees, and Micron was recently recognized for the fifth consecutive year as a top supporter of HBCU engineering schools.

This announcement comes after the Virginia Legislative Committee unanimously approved a state incentive program to support Micron's proposed investment to upgrade its existing manufacturing facility in Manassas. Micron confirms that this proposed investment in Virginia and the creation of new good-paying jobs would be made possible by the full allocation of federal funding under the CHIPS Act. The company has submitted a CHIPS application for Virginia to the Department of Commerce.

“Micron's proposed expansion represents an unprecedented opportunity for Virginia and the nation to demonstrate leadership in key solid-state memory technologies for long-lifecycle applications in the global automotive and automotive industries. aerospace,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin. “We are working with federal partners to ensure that Micron’s application is as competitive as possible, so that we can bring this project to fruition, in Virginia.”

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