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The expansion of Micron Technology Inc.鈥檚 Manassas plant is key to maintaining the company鈥檚 place as a supplier in the growing autonomous vehicle market, the company鈥檚 CEO and president said last week.
Sanjay Mehrotra discussed the project on Friday in Tysons Corner at the Tech Titans Breakfast鈥檚 fireside chat organized by the聽.
鈥淚 really consider Micron as a national treasure, an iconic company,鈥� said Mehrotra, adding that everything is being shaped and driven by data. 鈥淎nd that data lives in the kind of products Micron makes.鈥�
The $3 billion expansion of the Manassas plant is an answer to the demands of the technology business, including the autonomous car market. This means more space is needed for making the semi-conductors used to process the electric commands in driverless cars.
鈥淭hose vehicles will have many sensors on them, and they will have to be like data centers on wheels,鈥� Mehrotra said. 鈥淭hose cars will have to be making thousands of split-second decisions in order to make sure you have a safe, comfortable and efficient experience.鈥�
The moderator of the chat, Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the聽, asked Mehrotra to explain what theoretically happens in an autonomous vehicle when a dog runs across the road.
Sensors and cameras on the car can recognize what鈥檚 in front of it, Mehrotra said. The car will quickly process how much time it has to stop, as well as the distance between it and an animal, child or object.
Today, humans have to make these decisions – these machines will make these same decisions, but faster, Mehrotra said.
Over time, consumers will see more autonomous features in traditional cars, making Micron鈥檚 memory technology more important, he said. 聽聽鈥淣one of us wants to ever be inside a car where anything fails because of electronics. It really has to be a culture of absolute zero failures.鈥�
GROWING IN MANASSAS
The Manassas plant has been recognized for producing top-quality products and is the market share leader in the automotive market, according to Micron.
The entire Manassas team is innovative and works to find solutions to improve efficiency and the quality of Micron鈥檚 product, said Tim O鈥橞rien, vice president and site director of the Manassas facility, speaking after the event.
Micron bought the Manassas plant in 2002 and has been investing in the site since, O鈥橞rien said. The expansion is an answer to the demands of the technology business. An increase in the amount of data centers means more memory and storage products are necessary, O鈥橞rien said.
The site employs more than 1,000 people, and the expansion calls for an additional 1,100 jobs to be added in the next decade 鈥� 160 of those positions have already been filled since the project was announced in August.
In the past eight months, 500 contractors have been hired for the project, Mehrotra said.
Mehrotra said companies like Amazon choose Virginia as a place to do business, in part because of the area鈥檚 colleges and universities that supply a constant stream of talented workers.
Northern Virginia Community College partnered with Micron in 2018 to create the聽聽or, Fab Lab, 聽at the college鈥檚 Manassas campus.
A purpose of the lab is to strengthen the state鈥檚 tech talent pool, lawmakers said.
The company says it is working with universities to bring more women into engineering and technology.
About 46 percent of the employees at the Manassas site are from underrepresented communities, according to information from Micron.
鈥淲omen are about 17 percent, which is not as high as what we would like it to be, so we have some big initiatives right now with respect to our hiring,鈥� O鈥橞rien said.
Micron has a strong relationship with the city of Manassas and its council, O鈥橞rien said.
Micron has very specific needs when it comes to utilities and workforce, so the city has to ensure Micron has access to clean water and reliable electricity, said Manassas City Councilman Ian Lovejoy, who attended Friday鈥檚 event.
鈥淚 served as chairman of the city’s Economic Development and Land Use Committee while much of the discussions with Micron took place,鈥� Lovejoy said. 鈥淚 have to say city staff is to be commended for doing incredible work in bringing this expansion to reality.鈥�
