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IBM leads pack in $2.5 Billion Investment |
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Feb 04, 2005 at 12:00 PM |
New York State Governor, George E. Pataki announced in his 11th Annual
State of the State Message, more than $2.5 billion in investments in
Upstate New York by an IBM-led consortium of high-tech companies from
across the globe - marking another step in the Governor‘s goal of
making New York a worldwide leader in university-based research,
business development, and job creation.
In one of the most significant commitments in the State‘s history, IBM
- along with six global giants that include Sony, Toshiba, Samsung,
Infineon, AMD, and Charter - will spend $1.9 billion on nanoelectronics
manufacturing and development in East Fishkill, New York.
This historic investment includes Sony‘s investment into the new IBM
leading edge 300mm wafer chip making plant, while IBM and its six
international partners will work jointly on some of the most advanced
semiconductor development programs in the world.
Governor Pataki agreed to commit $150 million in State support for the
two projects, in exchange for the commitment by this unparalleled
private-public partnership to create 750 high technology jobs in the
Hudson Valley, from East Fishkill to Albany.
In addition, IBM and a group of the largest equipment suppliers in
nanoelectronics that includes TEL and Applied Materials intend to
invest, pending completion of contract negotiations, an unprecedented
$450 million to expand the research and development capabilities of the
Albany Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics, a shining example of
the value of developing a high tech economy.
Construction on the new IBM 300mm wafer expansion is scheduled to be
complete in the second half of 2005. The expanded facilities in East
Fishkill will combine certain IBM chip making breakthroughs on 300 mm
(12inch) wafers, with features more than 1,500 times thinner than a
human hair.
The unprecedented expansion of the R&D capabilities of the Albany
Center of Excellence will create the most advanced 300mm research
facility at any university in the world. Scientists and researchers
from IBM, TEL, Applied Materials, the Albany Center of Excellence will
jointly collaborate for the first time anywhere on the demonstration
and deployment of computer chip technologies at the nanoscale - at
line-widths more than 3,100 times thinner than a human hair.
Governor Pataki and the Legislature have advanced several major
initiatives to expand high technology and biotechnology business and
job-creation opportunities in New York. The Governor‘s Centers of
Excellence initiative, along with Strategically Targeted Academic
Research Centers and Advanced Research Centers, focus on critical
emerging technologies that are expected to become major high-tech
growth areas.
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