It carries the promise of high paying jobs in a high tech field that is booming. YNN's Bill Carey says word of a new project for Syracuse may be just what's needed to boost local morale.

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ONONDAGA COUNTY, N.Y. -- It is a place that has felt the sting of hard economic times. And the slowdown has dragged on for years. All having an impact on the local psyche.

“In this community, sometimes, we see the glass as half empty. But I think it's because we have a lot of iconic businesses that we've lost. People can drive down the street and see that Carrier is being dismantled and some of our big companies are no longer here. When you see that reminder, day after day, I think it can affect your confidence,” said Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney

While consumer confidence has risen in most major cities in Upstate New York, in Syracuse, it is down. And down dramatically. A drop of 13 percent in the last year alone.

So it may be difficult for many in the area to react positively to word from a U.S. Senator that an old site, now a business incubator site, but once home to massive GE and Lockheed Martin manufacturing, may soon be the center for a new high tech industry.

The Navy is preparing to produce a new generation of microchips to upgrade many of its cutting edge weapons systems. It likes the approach taken by a California company, APIC.

APIC, in turn, likes the Electronics Park site in Salina, offered by CenterState CEO. And Senator Charles Schumer is pushing the deal.

Schumer said, “All we need now is for the Navy to sign a manufacturing agreement with APIC and with CenterState that will locate this new chip manufacturing in Syracuse and the potential is very, very large.”

Schumer says the impact would be dramatic.

“It's a pretty safe bet that other companies that make chips would locate here as well. The kind of research that goes into it would be spawned in Syracuse and we're very close to the finish line here,” Schumer said.

The Senator is pressing for defense secretary Leon Panetta to give the go ahead for the project. Local leaders couldn't be more pleased.

“These are the jobs that our children and our grandchildren can have in this community. And when people see things like this stick in Syracuse and in Onondaga County, I think it can really turn our attitudes around,” Mahoney said.

And that consumer confidence number in Syracuse could begin to climb again.

APIC, the California company involved in the microchip project, says the new plant in the Syracuse area would help create 200 high paying jobs.