IBM and Intel start up $4.4b chip research hub in Albany
updated 07:05 pm EDT, Tue September 27, 2011
Investment to create 2,500 high tech jobs
IBM and Intel have agreed to invest $4.4 billion to create an R&D hub for nanotechnology in Albany, New York. The two companies, along with Samsung, Global Foundries, and TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufucturing Corporation), will make the investment over a five-year period. New York state will pour $400 million into its College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at Albany in support of the effort.
The investment has two components. The first, which will be led by IBM and its partners, will focus on making the next two generations of computer chips. The second, a joint effort by Intel, IBM, TSMC, Global Foundries and Samsung, will focus on transforming existing 300mm chip wafer technology into the emerging 450mm technology. This new technology can produce more than twice the number of chips processed on today's 300mm wafers.
The project is expected to create 1,900 construction jobs, 2,500 new technology positions, and maintain 2,500 existing jobs. Some of the funding will also be shared with research facilities in Canandaigua, Utica, East Fishkill, and Yorktown Heights.
In a separate agreement, Intel agreed to establish its 450mm east coast headquarters in Albany to support the overall management of the projects. [via Bloomberg]
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Joined: Apr 2011
One of the best news in a long time.
The US MUST stay on the leading edge of technology in order to survive along with the arguably privileged middle class (at least as compared with other countries with large economies) that made it a great place to study work and live.
A well educated workforce extending the limits of state of the art is one of the pillars that raised the USA to the number one economy. The great inventors like Bell, or Edison come to mind; later on Ford the manufacturing revolution he pioneered or the space program's race to the moon.
Microprocessor design is one very important avenue of growth, where the US still leads; but what about the rumors of Apple's new building housing never before seen manufacturing devices ages ahead of anything seen before?
If true, Steve Jobs legacy would help not just stock holders but the whole country.