As New York state works to expand high-tech manufacturing, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced $40 million to fund sites and attract large employers.

“Employers, as I said, want to know that the permits are in place, the infrastructure is right and work can begin almost immediately," Hochul said Tuesday.

The $40 million that's going to seven sites comes from the FAST New York Program. The purpose of the funding is to develop sites where construction or employment can begin immediately, and bring more high-tech manufacturing companies to New York.

“If it is not shovel-ready, a company will go somewhere else because it's a long delay to get all the permitting, go through the local town board approvals, seek assistance from the county IDAs," said Hochul.

Most of the money is going to three sites.

The Monroe County IDA in Rochester will receive $20 million; Buffalo and Erie County Industrial Land Development Corporation was awarded just under $5 million; and Mohawk Valley Edge will get $14 million.

“[This will] enable us to further develop, do site-prep work and some minor infrastructure improvements to support the balance of the Marcy Nanocenter Site," said Mohawk Valley Edge President Steve DiMeo.

He said most of the site development work will begin next spring. An area to build a semiconductor supply-chain campus has already been reserved. It's a high-demand build with the state having locked down deals with Micron and Wolfspeed in recent years.

“With the federal industrial policy, with the CHIPS Act, the Infrastructure Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, it has really made the U.S. more globally competitive and a target of opportunity for leading industries to invest," DiMeo said.

He believes the state seized an opportunity.

“I think there’s a hub that’s emerged along the I-90 corridor here," said DiMeo. "Both what’s happening here, what’s happening in the Capital Region with Global Foundries and facilities. Investments in the Hudson Valley with IBM, and obviously, the Micron announcement.”