NY Governor George E. Pataki Announces Formation Of International SEMATECH NORTH At Albany NanoTech (UAlbany-SUNY)
Albany, NY (ots) $400 Million Chip Research Investment By State And Semiconductor Industry Seen As Major Job And Economic Growth Stimulus For New York
New York Governor George E. Pataki has announced that International SEMATECH (ISMT), the 12 member global consortium of major computer chip manufacturers, will locate its next-generation, 300-mm R&D center --named International SEMATECH NORTH -- at Albany NanoTech, the University of Albany -- SUNY's advanced nanoelectronics facility for industry / university technology development and application in nanoelectronics.
To support the program over the next five years, New York State will contribute $210 million (which includes $50 million previously allocated for the Albany NanoTech Center (ANT) of Excellence at UAlbany and is included in the 2002-03 State budget) while International SEMATECH and its member companies, including IBM will add $193 million.
ISMT and UAlbany have signed a letter of intent to begin negotiations on details of the International SEMATECH North (ISMTN)/ ANT strategic alliance. The initial project will be aimed at R&D in the area of advanced lithography infrastructure for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. EUV will be crucial for computer chip manufacturing technology in the future because technical advances are expected to cause present day manufacturing methods to become obsolete for the most advanced chips.
ISMT and ANT-UAlbany hope to work out final details of the strategic alliance by the end of the third quarter of this year. It is expected that under the agreement, ISMT will provide technical program definition, execution, management, and staffing while Albany NanoTech provides facilities and funding leverage for the infrastructure program that will be housed in the first of ANT's soon to be completed state-of-the-art 300-mm wafer cleanrooms. ISMT and Albany NanoTech will share executive management of the program as well as the procurement of equipment and materials.
Gov. Pataki's announcement was enthusiastically received July 18 th by some 500 government, business and financial, and university leaders gathered at the Albany NanoTech site at UAlbany. It culminated 10 months of negotiation that began with a meeting between the Governor and top officials of International SEMATECH and ANT on September 10, 2001 at the first Albany Symposium on Global Semiconductors and Nanotechnology at the Sagamore Hotel on the shores of Lake George, NY.
The Albany Symposium (see www.albanysymposium.org) will be repeated this year from Sept 11-13 and will again be co-hosted by Albany NanoTech and the NY Capital District's Center for Economic Growth As a result of the Gov. Pataki's announcement of the International SEMATECH NORTH agreement, the Symposium is expected to draw considerable interest as it focuses on the global business of semiconductors and emerging nanotechnology.
At the ISMTN announcement ceremony on July 18th International SEMATECH president Dr. C. Robert Helms recognized the commitments provided by Governor Pataki and the State of New York, and looked forward to the creation and implementation of ISMTN as an excellent partnership in the service of its member companies and the industry. "By jointly funding this major R&D initiative for success," he said, "International SEMATECH can expand its infrastructure programs and more efficiently address the critical challenges identified in the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors [a 15-year master plan for the technical development in the global semiconductor industry]. The ISMTN collaboration provides an unprecedented opportunity to maximize the leverage of industry and state government investments."
The establishment of International SEMATECH NORTH at Albany NanoTech is the first expansion of International SEMATECH beyond its Austin, Texas headquarters and research facility since the consortium was founded in 1989.
The New York State Legislature will have to approve the State's $210 million allocation, but State Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno (R-Rensselaer, Saratoga) and Deputy Majority Leader, Ron Canestrari (D-Albany, Rensselaer) who represented Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) at the announcement, both said that legislative support was widespread.
University at Albany President Karen R. Hitchcock said, "We are delighted with the Governor's announcement of International SEMATECH North at the University at Albany and his unflagging support and vision as well as the support of Senate Majority Leader Bruno and Assembly Speaker Silver.
Dr. Alain E. Kaloyeros, Executive Director of Albany NanoTech and founding Dean of the University at Albany's new School of Nanosciences and Nanoengineering, who Governor Pataki cited as being an instrumental force in negotiating the International SEMATECH NORTH agreement, himself said, "Clearly, as we join with International SEMATECH in sponsoring international programs in advanced semiconductor R&D, the state-of-the-art resources of the ANT-UAlbany Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics will help launch a new era for New York and UAlbany. This announcement gives testimony to the vision and leadership of Governor Pataki and praise to his strategy for turning New York State into an international high technology magnet.
Details of the agreement now under discussion will place a world-class R&D initiative here at UAlbany. We're committed to this important industry-university collaboration, and look forward to working with ISMT as a premier strategic partner to generate an excellent return on investment for New York State and International SEMATECH. International SEMATECH's decision to locate at Albany NanoTech will make Albany the lead R&D hub in the world for this industry.
The proposed alliance with International SEMATECH builds on each organization's strengths. As we join with International SEMATECH in sponsoring global programs in advanced semiconductor research and development, Albany NanoTech looks forward to providing International SEMATECH NORTH with the space and support it needs to expand its infrastructure programs which are critical to the industry."
Albany NanoTech [www.albanynanotech.org] is the umbrella organization that oversees and coordinates UAlbany's comprehensive portfolio of academic, research, and outreach programs in nanosciences and nanotechnology. It serves as a fully-integrated research, development, prototyping, and technology deployment resource that manages a strategic portfolio of focus centers encompassing nanoelectronics, micro- and nanomechanical systems, bioelectronics, telecommunications and wireless communications, optical devices and components, leading edge metrology, and sensor-on-a-chip devices for energy, environment, and defense related applications. ANT currently maintains a $125M state-of-the-art infrastructure, including laboratory, prototyping and cleanroom facilities. It offers students and faculty the most advanced facilities and equipment available today. Its asset value is projected to exceed $500M once the two 300-mm wafer facilities are completed.
The International SEMATECH (Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology) research and development consortium includes: US firms: IBM, Intel, Motorola, Hewlett-Packard, Texas Instruments, Advanced Micro Devices, Agere Systems (Lucent); European firms: Philips (Netherlands), Infineon Technologies (Germany), and STMicroelectronics (France); and Asian firms: Hynix (Korea), TSMC (Taiwan).
New York State's investment under the ISMT agreement will be primarily for capital construction, equipment, and specialized tools for International SEMATECH North research. ISMTN anticipates employing about 250 researchers at the Albany site where its presence could serve as a catalyst for private sector growth for years to come.
In 2001, Gov. Pataki, as part of his proposed $1 billion investment in high technology in New York, designated Albany NanoTech (ANT) as a New York Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics. The ISMTN announcement is a direct result of the Governor's efforts to establish Centers of Excellence that are unique collaborations between state government, industry, and universities. The underlying objectives are to shorten the time to commercialization for research ideas and new products, to utilize more efficiently the intellectual talent resident in New York's academic institutions in producing tangible results that benefit the people and the economy of the state, and to foster job creation by increasing the asset value of the state's hi-tech manufacturing base.
New York also provides $5 million annually to the National Interconnect Focus Center in Interconnect Technologies, jointly operated by UAlbany and RPI along with Stanford, MIT and Georgia Tech, and sponsored by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the top semiconductor industry equipment suppliers. Total State support for the Focus Center will reach $45 million by 2005.
The Governor also recently announced the creation of a new technology park, including a life sciences facility, at the 300-acre W. Averill Harriman State Office Campus adjacent to the University at Albany. It is anticipated that spin-off companies and existing companies that will locate near the International SEMATECH North research center will be able to use this valuable resource for economic development purposes.
In the fourth quarter of 2002, Albany NanoTech, will complete a 120,000 square foot, clean room-facilitated building -- the first building in its 300-mm facility development. The second building is a 3-story, 225,000 square-foot structure with 36,000 square feet of cleanroom plus 36,000 square feet of subsurface cleanroom support. It is scheduled for completion in 2003, following which installation of initial tooling will take place.
ANT will continue to maintain its current facilities that include a 75,000 square foot wafer processing complex tooled for 200-mm wafers, the current standard for chip manufacturing.
Since 1992 UAlbany R&D funding has grown fifty-fold, and UAlbany has engaged in various national, industry, and state-funded R&D initiatives. Gov. Pataki has championed the investment by New York of more than $100 million in support for Albany NanoTech's computer chip research facilities on the SUNY Albany campus. The State's $50 million commitment last year was accompanied by a $100 million pledge from IBM as well as a number of grants from the federal government and other chip makers for support of the 300-mm project. Under the Albany NanoTech banner, adopted in 2001, and with the construction of the two new 300--mm cleanroom facilities, ANT and UAlbany-SUNY become a centerpiece in the Governor's $1B initiative to bring high-tech companies and jobs to New York.
The economic impact of International SEMATECH NORTH on the economy of upstate New York could be dramatic. Citing the economic growth history of the city of Austin, Texas in the years following SEMATECH's arrival in 1988, and the development of the vibrant technology infrastructure in the Austin area, Gov. Pataki told an enthusiastic audience that he foresaw a like transformation in the upstate economy that could bring thousands of new high-paying jobs to the Capital District, the Hudson Valley, the Mohawk Valley and beyond. State Centers of Excellence in Buffalo (Bioinformatics), Rochester (Photonics), Syracuse (Environmental Systems) and on Long Island (Information Technology) will all benefit from the ISMNT presence, vaulting New York into place as an international leader in high-tech research and economic development, he said. Nearly $750 million in private sector and federal investments have been pledged for Centers statewide, the Governor added, including the new private sector International SEMATECH funding.
SUNY Prof. JoAnne Feeney, who closely follows technology and is now on the ANT staff, offered an economist's assessment of the ISMTN announcement. "Economists have long recognized that economic growth is driven by technology," she said. "This makes the establishment of ISMNT a landmark event because it sends a strong signal from the semiconductor industry's leading corporations that they are confident that upstate New York can attract and hold the high tech, well educated workforce that the industry needs.
Places like Silicon Valley and Austin have attracted a skilled, energetic workforce through the presence of multiple companies and multiple job opportunities, " Feeney said. "ISMTN's presence will create a spillover effect, generating a compounding economic leverage for the Hudson Valley, an ability to attract firms of like and related kind, an ability to retain graduates from its preeminent academic institutions, and a growing number of employers. Establishing conditions that could bring about the formation of International SEMATECH NORTH clearly required the offices of governmental leaders with vision and determination," she added.
Contact:
LaMar Hill
Albany NanoTech
Director of Business Development
Phone +1/518-437-8686
mailto:lhill@uamail.albany.edu
Internet: http://www.albanynanotech.org