The pandemic has caused financial hardships on many businesses and even put people out of work however, essential work like the one billion dollar Cree project has still been ongoing.

The Marcy Nanocenter, now the home for Cree Inc. is a semiconductor company based out of Durham, North Carolina. They specialize in silicon carbide and gallium nitride technologies.

Despite the pandemic, Oneida County Executive, Anthony Picente says projects like these are the bright spot that is needed during these difficult times, “We’ll be able to put more people to work. Some of the people that lost their jobs through this pandemic will be able to now find jobs in the year ahead and the years ahead because of these projects.”

The project is scheduled to be completed by April 2021.