Youngkin, Warner headline forum focused on growing microchip industry in Virginia

Gov. Glenn Youngkin and U.S. Sen. Mark Warner on Tuesday headlined a semiconductor conference in Fairfax County to convince global industry leaders to bring more microchip manufacturers to Virginia, a state they say offers lucrative incentives.

While Virginia is already home to major players in the semiconductor industry like the Manassas-based Micron Technology Inc., both Warner and Youngkin acknowledged the state is lagging behind others that have made substantial investments in microchips, noting Ohio with Intel’s expansion thanks to the help of public incentives.

The two framed Virginia as being in a race against other states to build out the industry from top to bottom with robust workforce talent, research and development and deep supply chains.

“We must go fast, breaking technology barriers and doing it in a way that leads the world,” Youngkin, a Republican, said. 

Both statewide officeholders recognized the need for the state to expand its financial incentives for private companies to invest, and Youngkin said his administration is in the process of developing a package. But they also said Virginia already offers a number of key built-in attractions, including its proximity to the federal government, a robust slate of public and private universities, the country's defense contracting hub and a leading cargo port.

The event, held at Northrop Grumman’s global headquarters, was hosted in partnership with Virginia Tech University to tout the grant-funded Virginia Alliance of Semiconductor Technology program that seeks to build public-private partnerships to buff out the industry that manufactures microcomputers that power everything from smartphones and cars to kitchen appliances and defense weapons.

The program will enroll 300 graduate students each year at the school’s Alexandria innovation campus and build a pipeline for them to enter the semiconductor industry.

“Leveraging the Innovation campus where we can bring in other research opportunities with that proximity to Congress, proximity to the intel community, proximity to defense, proximity to aerospace gives us a leg up," Warner, a Democrat and former governor, said.

The event came on the heels of a recent incentive package approved by Congress -- which Warner played a central role in crafting -- that will fund new and existing semiconductor manufacturing facilities. 

Expanding microchip manufacturing in Virginia is part of a broader national effort to reduce the country’s reliance on foreign countries, namely Taiwan, for their production. The movement is closely intertwined with what officials say is protecting national security in the face of China, which leaders fear could attempt to mount a takeover of Taiwan in the future. 

“As we are engaged in a economic challenge of a lifetime, particularly vis-à-vis the People’s Republic of China, national security is really about who is going to maintain technology dominance in a whole series of domains,” Warner said.

It seems unlikely that large new manufacturing facilities would be located in Northern Virginia given the amount of land needed for such developments, but Youngkin said there are plenty of smaller parcels available for different elements of the supply chain.

The governor said there is land in south central Virginia, near Hampton Roads and around the Richmond area his administration is working to have ready-made for potential developers to build larger structures on.

“We still have a lot of progress to make” to ready land for companies that want to build facilities with quick turnaround, Youngkin said. Having land prepped for development “is a compelling, compelling factor in the site selection decisions that are being made," he said.