The Global 450 consortium announced plans last week to invest $4.4 billion for computer chip research at several locations in New York.
Computer tech giant IBM is the head company, promising to invest $3.6 billion in the project. Intel agreed to move its East Coast headquarters to Albany, and the NY state government promised to invest $400 million to upgrade the state university system’s facilities for the project.
IBM and Intel are joined in the consortium by GlobalFoundries, Samsung, and TSMC. Each company pledged at least $75 million to the project, and the Wall Street Journal reported the semiconductor industry pledged between $600 and $700 million.
The project will expand the nanotechnology center at the State University at Albany and add jobs in four other cities in the state: Canandaigua, East Fishkill, Utica, and Yorktown Heights. In total, 6,900 jobs will either be retained or created, of which 2,500 will be high tech jobs. The facility at Albany is expected to open by 2013, when tests on 450-millimeter wafers are to start.
Global 450’s goal is to make the switch from 300-millimeter computer chip wafers to 450-millimeter ones by 2020. The 300-millimeter wafers are the global industry standards.
A majority of IBM’s investments are anticipated for the research of the next generations of computer chips, at sizes of 22 and 14 nanometers.
The Global 450 announcement came just two days before IBM’s stock jumped past Microsoft’s for the first time since 1996, making IBM the second largest computer company in the nation.
“If it’s going to make transistors smaller and processors larger, this project is a good thing,” said Ozzie Fallick, a sophomore majoring in computer science and linguistics.
“I’m always for technological advancement,” sophomore aerospace engineering major Donald Gregorich said. “If those companies want to put the money in, it’s great. Nothing bad can come of it, and the way to advance is by taking these risks,” he said.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and former Pres. Bill Clinton made the announcement of Global 450’s investment in the state. Albany and New York faced pressure from Pittsburgh to become the center of the computer chip and nanotechnology business in America.