BUFFALO, N.Y. -- New York regions from Syracuse and parts west plan to submit a joint application to the United States Economic Development Agency to become a national tech hub by the Aug. 15 deadline.

U.S. Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-NY-23, said the focus is on leveraging and building on Micron's plans to invest $100 billion in Central New York.

"We have the people. We have the tools. We have the educated workforce to get the job done and take this country's manufacturing and high-tech to the next level," Langworthy said.

The EDA plans to designate 20 regions to split $15 million, and five to 10 will get between $50 and $75 million. Rep. Brian Higgins, D-NY-26, said the intiative is part of the CHIPS Act to promote domestic production of microchips with Taiwan currently manufacturing about 90% of the high-end chips.

"Where is Taiwan located? One hundred miles from China. They are surrounded by hostility and instability. We don't need that. We need to create the kind of investment that is necessary in a place like Buffalo," Higgins said.

Speaking at the proposed future site of the Larkin Workforce Training Center, the congressmen said the region is already building the vocational expertise to lead the emerging field. They said the upstate "super-region" also has the infrastructure, natural resources, colleges and universities and a bipartisan congressional delegation working together to help coordinate the complicated application.

"We don't really vote together on too many things in Washington but what we do join together on is what is important for Western New York in the dawn of a bright new renaissance of our manufacturing future," Langworthy said.

That partnership includes a recent meeting at Rochester Democratic Rep. Joe Morelle's office with U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development Alejandra Castillo.

"This was not a formality," Higgins said. "This was a very substantive meeting which included the senior management who will review these applications and make a final decision."