The State of New York has secured yet another element in its emerging nanoelectronics cluster. Nanotechnology, the highly controlled manipulation of matter at the atomic scale, is widely touted as the future of industry, and even of nations. And the first, most lucrative, nanotechnology applications are happening in electronics.
Public authorities around the world are vying to cultivate nanoelectronics communities. Even in an era of tightening budgets for research and development, the federal government continues to increase its support of the nanosciences. It is in this context that New York is striving to build its own nanoelectronics infrastructure. Such an infrastructure would emulate the example set in Texas, where an early investment in Sematech positioned the state as a center for semiconductor research.
Early wins included Sematech itself, which invested $403 million in a research center in upstate New York. In addition, an IBM-led consortium of high-tech companies will spend $1.9 billion on nanoelectronics manufacturing and development in East Fishkill, New York. Other companies in the consortium include Sony, Toshiba, Samsung, Infineon, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and Charter.
New York’s latest success is in attracting additional investment from AMD. In June 2006, AMD and New York officials announced a multi-billion dollar deal that will enable AMD to build and operate the most advanced semiconductor manufacturing facility in the world at the Luther Forest Technology Park in Malta, Saratoga County.
Under the terms of the agreement, AMD will be able to construct a new fabrication plant (fab) designed to produce 300-mm wafers using 32-nanometer process technology. Expenditures at the facility are projected to total more than $2 billion during the first five years of operation, bringing the project total investment to $5.2 billion.
The project is expected to create 1,200 new high-tech jobs, 1,209 indirect jobs, and 1,791 induced jobs. Construction activity will also create an estimated 6,000 jobs.
AMD had also considered a site in Dresden Germany, where AMD already has a fab. But AMD ultimately responded to New York’s proven commitment to the semiconductor industry, a financial incentive package, and an educated workforce that could serve the semiconductor industry.
