Business Facilities - May 2008 - (Page 12)

COVER STORY Economic Development in a Flash 1994 Micron Technology Inc. announces first expansion out of Boise, ID will be a memory chip manufacturing plant located in the small town of Lehi, UT. 1995 Oversupply in the memory chip market prompts Micron to halt construction, leaving a large shell of a semiconductor building. Micron will use the facility for minimal functions over the next 10 years. Fall 1995 Intel Corp. and Micron begin discussions on teaming up to fabricate NAND products due to projections of continued rapid growth in the flash memory market. says. “In fact, I’d say because of great changes from our legislature, we can compete with anyone in the world for incentives for businesses.” And compete Utah did, as the IM Flash project attracted much global interest. In the end, however, locating in Utah presented the most attractive option to the company. According to Baglee, several of the factors that helped cinch the deal included Utah’s business-friendly environment, the existing facility in Lehi, existing infrastructure in the things that you consider when you’re selecting a site for a semiconductor fab. The first one is, really, ‘Is it a business-friendly environment?’ —Dave Baglee, Co-chief Executive Officer, IM Flash “ There’s a variety of ” city to support the semiconductor business, a talented labor pool, proximity to equipment suppliers, ease of transportation for raw materials, and a great quality of life. “I think that once people come to Utah, they realize what a great place it is to live,” says Baglee. The IM Flash incentive package was finally approved by the GOED in March 2006. It included an Economic Development Tax Incentive Fund rebate of 30% of new state revenues on a post-performance basis has such a massive output that each one of them has to actually establish a support team locally in order to continue to supply the service that we need. As an example, from a tool supplier perspective, it’s in the area of around 50 suppliers. So each one of those suppliers, when they sell us a tool, that supplier has a lot of interest in making that tool run very efficiently from a cost perspective, and the reason is that they want to sell tools to other companies. … So they’re very interested in making our tools successful. In order to do that, they have to have their experts living on site here with us. We call them support representatives; basically, they sit here at the site, and as problems come up that our technicians are not able to solve, they have direct links to experts at their company to get information about how to solve that problem. So, we collaborate Q&A with IM Flash Executives Business Facilities: What can you tell me about the decision to locate IM Flash in Utah? Stan Lockhart, Government Affairs Manager, IM Flash Technologies: There was a very close partnership of government at all levels, and the business community was supportive of IM Flash coming as well. It was a joint effort on the part of numerous individuals. The business-friendly environment that government creates can make a big difference. That was huge. There was just a can-do attitude on the part of the people who were involved in the project. The other thing is that infrastructure costs were very reasonable—the price of electricity, natural gas, and water … the very basics of running a business. BF: How was the business community involved? Lockhart: They all just weighed in to support us, many of the business associations in the state—the Utah Manufacturers Association and the Utah Information Technology Association, now called the Utah Technology Council. We also had support of groups like the Utah Taxpayer Association and some of the chambers of commerce. Really, it was just a wide-ranging group that came together to help us make our case that Utah needed a company like Micron at the time, and now IM Flash, to become an economic anchor in the state. BF: What is taking place outside IM Flash in that locale? Todd Matthews, Site Manager, IM Flash Technologies: We have a lot of suppliers, whether they are tool suppliers or raw materials suppliers. The facility 12 M AY 2 0 0 8

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Business Facilities - May 2008 Contents First Word Snapshots The UK's Most Lucrative Locations, Pound for Pound Economic Development in a Flash Corporate Moves: Massachusetts Florida: A Ripe Climate for Innovation Innovating Big in Rhode IIsland Retail Set to Ride Out a Recession Corporate Moves: New Jersey South Carolina: A Sweet Spot in the Southeast Endless Opportunities in North Carolina Economic Awakening in the Mohawk Valley Metro Spotlight: Alexandria, LA Where Call Centers Call Home Texas Receives First Business Facilities State of the Year Award Advertiser Index Inside Livexchange

Business Facilities - May 2008

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