Syracuse, New York — The Port of Oswego on Lake Ontario will receive more than $11 million in federal funding that could help it become a gateway for Micron Technology proposed chip manufacturing plant near Syracuse.

The money will be used to build a climate-controlled warehouse that could temporarily store temperature-sensitive materials such as chemicals and gases used in the production of computer memory chips, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said.

“Strong port infrastructure like this is essential to Upstate New York’s booming chip, manufacturing, agriculture and other industries,” Schumer said in a statement .

The funding is part of the $1.2 trillion federal infrastructure law passed in 2021.

Micron plans to build a massive chip manufacturing complex in the town of Clay, about 28 miles south of Oswego. A senior Micron executive, Scott Gatzemeier, met with Oswego Port officials in April 2023 to discuss shipping supplies and machinery through the port and to a rail spur next to the Clay site.

Gatzemeier said the port could also be used to bring in machines that are pressurized and therefore cannot be put on planes.

Micron also considered bringing construction materials such as metal trusses, walls and air conditioning ducts into the port and then to the Clay site by truck, Patrick McMahon, development and development supervisor, said last year. maintenance at the port authority.

The port’s aging warehouse, built in the 1980s, partially collapsed in 2013 during a snowstorm. Schumer said the new warehouse will be the first climate-controlled warehouse at a Great Lakes port with rail, road and water access.