Michigan loses massive semiconductor plant. Whitmer blames ‘national economic turmoil’

Company planning a $63 billion semiconductor manufacturing complex near Flint pulled the plug on the deal

Sandisk’s decision was prompted by ‘national economic turmoil’ Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said

About $260 million in taxpayer funding has been spent on preparing a 1,300-acre megasite for the factory

The company planning a massive semiconductor manufacturing center that promised 10,000 jobs near Flint pulled the plug on the deal this week, according to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who blamed the move on “national economic turmoil."

The Sandisk Corporation had been eying the Genesee County megasite — about 1,300 acres so far, funded by $260 million in taxpayer dollars. Michigan was the company’s “preferred destination,” Whitmer said Monday in a statement.

The firm’s decision to drop the $63 billion project followed a years-long effort to assemble the massive property, which the state’s economic developers said was a top site in the nation for such a facility.

Whitmer has made the project a central focus of her second term. In May, she laid out her goal to land a major semiconductor fabrication plant by the end of next year — her last in office.

“This would be a transformational, once-in-a-century investment,” Whitmer said at the time, estimating the potential project could create as many as 12,000 construction jobs and as many as 6,000 permanent positions. “It would change the destiny of an entire region.”

State and local officials began preparing the megasite during the Biden administration as federal funding flowed into advanced manufacturing, including electric vehicle makers and semiconductor companies.

But the Trump administration has promised since taking office January to examine and in many cases halt the spending. Whitmer has traveled to the White House to lobby for the Sandisk deal and others that appeared to have the potential to rock Michigan’s economy if canceled.

So far, the situation remains in flux. At the same time, economic uncertainty under Trump — who has used tariffs to try to boost US manufacturing — “is at risk of worsening amid threats of even higher tariffs,” Whitmer, a Democrat, warned Wednesday.

That, she added, influenced Sandisk’s decision to halt the signature deal for Michigan. The company’s board determined that it will not “move forward with plans to construct a semiconductor plant anywhere in the United States,” Whitmer said.