In Buffalo, the Northland Workforce Training Center is standing up a CNC training program that a group of regional manufacturers asked it to build. Edwards Vacuum — a company already in the semiconductor supply chain — was about to hire a large number of machinists, and would rather help build the pipeline than take experienced ones from the employers around it. So about ten manufacturers sat down with Northland to work out what a new pathway would take, and the corridor funded it.
A single company receiving a one-time award of funding is a small story on its own. Multiply it across nearly 30 awards and signed contracts, three types of opportunities and four cities, and it becomes proof that the semiconductor buildout Upstate New York keeps hearing about is already reaching real organizations here. In its latest round, the NY SMART I-Corridor has awarded more than $2.7 million: not announced for some day, but already moving forward, with contracts signed and work underway with companies, training providers and innovators from Buffalo and Rochester to Syracuse and Ithaca.
“I’m thankful for the resources and the opportunity to support this type of innovation. The funding allowed us to move forward with the concept.” Stephen Tucker, President and CEO, Northland Workforce Training Center
Here’s where it’s going, program by program.
1. The supply-chain on-ramp is open
Through SCAN — the corridor’s supply chain program — 10 companies have been awarded Ignition Grants totaling $323,930 to pursue operational improvements and industry certifications that will strengthen their readiness to join the semiconductor and advanced-manufacturing supply chain. They are Teamwork Coatings, Haun Welding & Specialty Gases, Apollo Optical Systems, Seven Valley Specialty Cables, Pelco Component Technologies, WMT Precision, Triplett Machine, Circle Optics, Harrick Plasma and Titan International Sales (Titan EDM). Not one of them is making a chip — and that’s exactly the point. The supply chain around semiconductors runs on established manufacturers already operating across the region.
2. New ways into the workforce
The workforce resources run through STEP UP: training programs built with employers, not just for them. Two are under contract so far, worth $491,052 between them. In Buffalo, the Northland Workforce Training Center is standing up a new, employer-driven CNC training program with $250,000 — a clear path into advanced-manufacturing work. In Syracuse, IUOE Local 158 is strengthening Heavy Equipment Operator training with $241,052, supporting the physical buildout underway across the region. Five more are on the way: STEP UP has allocated $1.4 million across seven projects in total, with the remaining budgets and reporting details still being worked out. These are accessible front doors into well-paying and in-demand careers, opening now.
Built with employers is the operative phrase. “Let’s start with a blank canvas,” Tucker says of how he works with the manufacturers who shaped the program. “Tell me your pie-in-the-sky dream of the program you need and what competencies you want these folks to have. Don’t worry about the money. Let me worry about the money.”
3. Funded access to university labs
On the innovation side, the NY THRIVE voucher program has more than $2 million under contract across 18 companies — funding that provides regional companies with access to world-leading research facilities, equipment and expertise at Cornell, Rochester Institute of Technology, the University of Rochester, Syracuse University and the University at Buffalo. The corridor tracks the awards by region. Buffalo: Carbonix, Excellerix, IBEX Materials and Retech Systems. Rochester: amPICQ, Era73 Technologies, Oculi, Photonect, Stamper Technology and TOPTICA. Syracuse and Ithaca: Conamix, Flox Intelligence, INFICON, Menlo Micro, OWiC, tomPhyzx, TTM Technologies and TunaBotics. Companies turning research into products, in every city along the corridor.
For any potentially interested party who hasn’t gotten involved yet — an investor, a developer, a company thinking about a pivot — this is a signal worth exploring: the NY SMART I-Corridor is already providing funding for the suppliers, workers, and technologies a semiconductor economy runs on.
4. A first wave, not a finish line
None of this means the work is finished. This is an initial phase — early support for early movers, meant to lay groundwork rather than declare victory. What it proves is narrower, and more useful: the resources are here, the contracts are signed, and the organizations and people receiving it are real and local.
“These investments demonstrate that the work is already underway. We are helping organizations build the capabilities, workforce and innovations needed to compete in this rapidly growing industry.”
Joseph Stefko, Regional Innovation Officer, NY SMART I-Corridor
Find your place in the corridor
Whether you make something, want to build a career, or are commercializing a technology, there’s a way in — and a regional team to help you find it.
