The GlobalFoundries computer chip manufacturer announced earlier this week that the company will move forward with construction of a new research and development facility at its Fab 8 campus in Malta.
The facility, which will be called the Technology Development Center (TDC) represents another $2 billion investment in the Capital Region by the company, bringing the overall total to $8 billion. They cite a shift in the computing industry from PCs to mobile devices, which has driven demand for their chips.
At a press conference on Thursday at UAlbany's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE), GlobalFoundries CEO Ajit Manocha reaffirmed the company's plans to stay in the region.
"This is still the beginning," he said, "There's an 8.2 [fab] that will probably be close to a $10 billion investment when we're ready. So we are committed to the state of New York."
According to GlobalFoundries Chief Technology Officer, Gregg Bartlett, 65 of the company's scientists and engineers work doing research at CNSE.
"In many ways the TDC is the final strategic link in our overall R&D pipeline," he said. "We didn't just choose the campus in Luther Forest because it's a nice piece of property. A key component, as we have always been saying, is the growing high-tech campus centered here at CNSE."
Lieutenant Governor, Bob Duffy, touted the state's role in attracting the semiconductor industry.
"I've learned more about wafers in the past two years than I probably care to know, but thank God for people like you," he said.
GlobalFoundries received an unprecedented state incentive package, worth over a billion dollars, to locate Fab 8 in Saratoga County. No new incentives were provided by the state for the TDC, which is expected to create 500 new jobs.
The TDC will house 90,000 new square feet of cleanroom space. Construction is expected to begin early this year and wrap up by 2014.
