Syracuse sister city delegates tour Harborview Aquarium, Micron site in Clay

A delegation from Syracuse’s sister city in Taiwan saw two of Onondaga County’s biggest economic bets up close: the new Harborview Aquarium at the Inner Harbor and Micron Technology’s planned semiconductor campus in Clay.

Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon welcomed members of the Chiayi City Council to Central New York and led the tour this week, underscoring how much attention the county is drawing as Micron moves ahead with a project that could reshape the region’s job market. County officials said the visit highlighted growing international interest in Onondaga County as the semiconductor company advances its plans in the town of Clay, about 10 minutes outside Syracuse.

Micron announced it would officially break ground on its New York megafab on Jan. 16, 2026, and says the site could eventually include up to four fabs over more than 20 years. The company has said it intends to invest up to $100 billion in Central New York and create nearly 50,000 New York jobs, including 9,000 Micron jobs and more than 40,000 community jobs. For local officials, that makes visits like this more than diplomatic gestures; they are a signal that foreign business and civic leaders are watching the same workforce, housing and infrastructure pressures now facing Onondaga County.

The delegation also toured Harborview Aquarium, where county officials say the main habitat will be nearly 33 feet deep and include an underwater tunnel. The aquarium is expected to feature sand tiger sharks and what county leaders believe will be the largest doctor fish touch experience in the world. Onondaga County has also announced academic and research partnerships with SUNY ESF and The MOST, tying the aquarium to education and conservation as well as tourism.

That matters for the Inner Harbor, where county officials have framed the aquarium as part of a larger effort to turn a former polluted site into a community asset. In practical terms, the project is meant to bring more visitors, more school programming and more year-round activity to Syracuse’s waterfront, while giving the county a new attraction as Micron’s arrival puts Central New York on a much bigger economic map.

The sister city relationship between Syracuse and Chiayi City is designed to strengthen cultural, educational and economic ties. This visit showed how those ties can intersect with the county’s biggest near-term development bets, from student exchanges and tourism at Harborview to business connections tied to Micron’s long runway in Clay.