Micron's bat problem

Hi, this is Mackenzie in Washington. Endangered bats are just one reason Micron Technology Inc. has yet to start construction on a multibill [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Hi, this is Mackenzie in Washington. Endangered bats are just one reason [Micron Technology Inc.](bbg://securities/MU%20US%20Equity) has yet to start construction on a multibillion-dollar chipmaking factory in New York. But first... Three things you need to know today: • AMD said its data breach [won’t have material business impact]( • JPMorgan analyst who called China ‘uninvestable’ [thinks differently now]( • US car dealerships shut up shop after their [software provider got hacked]( Arboreal residents Micron is the biggest US memory chip maker and one of the (prospective) beneficiaries of the nation’s massive subsidy plan to nurture advanced chip fabrication on home soil. Its plans for the Syracuse region are grand, including as many as four semiconductor fabs in an archetypal Rust Belt town that would help onshore up to two-fifths of its global production and [create some 9,000 jobs](. But before any of that can happen, the firm has to take care of a bat problem. As part of its environmental review process, Micron discovered two endangered North American bat species living in White Pine Commerce Park, which is also [home]( to 204 acres of federally regulated wetlands and 6,716 feet of streams. Now, Micron has to find or create a new habitat for the critters, and — as [noted]( earlier by Syracuse.com — it can’t cut down any trees until November, when the bats leave to hibernate in nearby caves. That's part of a much broader state and federal review process that's pushed Micron's groundbreaking into 2025, in part because the firm does not yet have a comprehensive build plan detailing the waterways it will impact. A delay of a few months is by no means a death knell for the project nor the program overall. Almost every major company has [seen]( [timelines]( [slide](, for a variety of reasons, and that hasn’t stopped a verifiable Chips Act boom: The US has seen more computer and electronics [construction spending]( this year than the entire 2000s and 2010s combined. Yet Micron’s situation highlights the complexity of converting money into a vibrant domestic chip industry — and how that’s compounded by environmental reviews. The Idaho-based company struck a preliminary Chips Act deal in 2022 for $6.1 billion in grants, $7.5 billion in loans, and untold billions in federal tax credits. That’s in addition to $5.8 billion in incentives from New York State. Things kicked off in May 2023, when Micron submitted its paperwork to the Army Corps of Engineers, which handles approvals for dredging and filling of US waterways under the Clean Water Act. But that paperwork didn’t specify exactly which wetlands and streams are regulated at Micron’s project site. That determination comes from the courts, according to Margaret Crawford of the Army Corps, and it didn’t arrive until last month — a full year later. By that time, the Commerce Department had announced Micron’s preliminary Chips Act award — and taken over the broader federal review under the National Environmental Policy Act (including, among other things, the effect on the bats). But the Army Corps, responsible just for the permit to fill the wetlands, is still waiting for the company’s detailed mitigation plan. So far, Micron’s only put together what Crawford described as “a general layout.” Micron will begin construction immediately after state and federal reviews and permitting are complete, targeted to finish in early 2025, the company said. The first two fabs are [slated]( to start production in 2028 and 2029, with a potential third and fourth in 2035 and 2041. US Commerce Secretary [Gina Raimondo](bbg://people/profile/15119014) saw this type of thing coming. Environmental permitting can halt construction for months or even years, she [told](bbg://screens/%7BNSN%20S5BPL9DWRGG0%20%3CGO%3E%7D) me in December, about a week after Republicans [tanked]( a measure that would have exempted Chips Act-funded projects from NEPA review. “Obviously we want to do everything always to protect the environment,” she said. “But this is a national security priority, and we need to move quickly.” US Representative [Michael McCaul](bbg://people/profile/6916077),  a Texas Republican, is still [optimistic]( about moving that exemption [bill]( along. “If China invades Taiwan and TSMC, we can’t be filling out environmental compliance paperwork,” he told me last month. “You can quote me on that.” NEPA is widely considered to be a bedrock environmental law, requiring all federal agencies to evaluate the impact of major proposed actions. Green groups including the Sierra Club have [opposed a carveout for chips projects](, citing the increasing environmental and energy costs of the industry, in which carbon emissions are set to double by 2030. On a happier note, Micron’s $25 billion project in Idaho, announced just a month before the New York site, started construction last year and is on track to begin production in 2026. As for when site clearing will begin at White Pine Commerce Park, it’s hard to say. Sometime between [February]( and today, Micron removed the topic from its website’s FAQ.—[Mackenzie Hawkins](mailto:mhawkins71@bloomberg.net) The big story Alibaba and its Chinese peers pulled out all the stops in this year’s push to revitalize the country’s sleepy consumer appetites with the annual 618 shopping festival. It included [a Rihanna cameo, novel price guarantees and no-quibble returns.]( Get fully charged Singapore’s banks pose the highest money-laundering risk, the government said [after an illicit assets scandal.]( Ahead of SoftBank’s AGM on Friday, founder Masayoshi Son is [ready to make big bets again.]( Europe’s ambitions to build a local EV battery industry are floundering in the face of [competition from China and the US.]( Meituan, China’s food delivery leader, is up 90% since a January low in its shares, [as investors bet it’ll avert an all-out price war.]( More from Bloomberg Get Bloomberg Tech weeklies in your inbox: - [Cyber Bulletin]( for coverage of the shadow world of hackers and cyber-espionage - [Game On]( for reporting on the video game business - [Power On]( for Apple scoops, consumer tech news and more - [Screentime]( for a front-row seat to the collision of Hollywood and Silicon Valley - [Soundbite]( for reporting on podcasting, the music industry and audio trends - [Q&AI]( for answers to all your questions about AI Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? 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