Lucas says UI should be in on any Micron expansion plan

BOISE Micron Semiconductor, Inc., announced Tuesday it's planning to build a huge new manufacturing facility and it wants the new plant to be in Idaho.

Micron Technology President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Appleton said the company will build a $1.3 billion, 900,000 square-foot manufacturing facility to keep up with customer demand.

"We just have to decide where to put it," he told a news conference announcing the expansion.

It will create between 3,000 and 4,000 new jobs, and double Micron's current manufacturing capacity at its Boise operation.

State Rep. James (Doc) Lucas, R-Moscow, said Tuesday the University of Idaho, with its land-grant mission and southern Idaho engineering programs already in place, should be the likely candidate to oversee an educational expansion to meet the needs of Micron and other firms.

The state should expand engineering offerings to areas such as Twin Falls and Coeur d'Alene, he said. That could be accomplished in part, Lucas said, through courses available on satellite links, computers and video tapes.

Lucas said he wants to avoid a battle in the Legislature over dollars for engineering education, with lawmakers lining up behind different schools and swapping votes to secure dollars.

"If we fight it out with a bunch of different schools, the students will be the losers,'' as will taxpayers and high-tech businesses, he said.

Micron Semiconductor is a subsidiary of Micron Technology, a fast-growing semiconductor company that had 1994 sales of $1.63 billion and a profit of just over $400 million. It had 5,300 employees.

The new facilities will be designed to process 10,000 microchip components per week. "This expansion, when ramped to full production, will have greater manufacturing capacity than the current Boise operations," said Jay Hawkins, director of manufacturing.

Appleton said the site will require about 200 acres, and the company has sufficient land in Boise to build there.

But he said Micron doesn't want to overwhelm local facilities with thousands of new employees and increased demand for water and electricity. "We live here, too," he said. "Our employees live here, too."

He said a site selection committee will start work immediately, with hopes of making a decision where to locate the plant within two to three months.

Construction is scheduled to start in four to six months but it could take up to four years to reach full production.

Appleton was asked whether Micron was seeking tax or other incentives from government.

The company in 1988 threatened to expand elsewhere, with Portland or Phoenix under consideration, unless the state built new technology facilities at Boise State University. Spurred by that threat, Gov. Cecil Andrus pushed through funding in 1989 for the $5 million Simplot-Micron Technology Center at the school.

"I'm not the one to ask that," Appleton said."There's a committee of people at Micron that will go out and talk to the various groups, cities or counties or whatever.

"We're interested in what makes the most sense to us," he said. "The possibility that we would move it out of state is certainly there."

Later in the day, Republican governor candidate Phil Batt said he would work to guarantee that the expansion happens in Boise.

Batt said he will seek to ensure that Idaho keeps "its attractive business climate" with the 3 percent state investment tax credit and the production exemption used in manufacturing. He also said the announcement underscores the need of expanding engineering education in Boise.

"We must have the attitude that we will help business move forward, within the law and protecting our environment, but without burdensome regulations and paperwork," Batt said.

Earlier this year, the company offered $6 million if the state would open an independent college of engineering at Boise State, citing a lack of training facilities for its Boise employees. The Board of Education declined to authorize a stand-alone engineering college at Boise, in addition to the University of Idaho's College of Engineering, but voted to seek $1.8 million to expand engineering education in Boise through the University of Idaho.

The company said it planned to spend $491 million for land acquisition, site preparation and construction and another $820 million for equipment.

The new facilities would include a 100,000 square foot assembly building, 140,000 square foot test building, central utilities plant of 120,000 square feet and administrative-employee services building of 60,000 square feet.

All units will be designed for expansion.