New York plans to invest $1 billion to expand chip research
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is expected to announce a plan Monday to invest $1 billion to expand chip research operations in Albany, N.Y., as the state aims to continue as a global semiconductor center.
The plan is expected to create 700 new permanent jobs and retain thousands more, and includes the purchase of a new version of one of the world’s most expensive and advanced manufacturing machines, along with the construction of a new building to house it.
According to government officials, the initiative should bring in $9 billion in additional investment from chip-related companies. They expect it will boost New York’s chances of being selected to host a new National Semiconductor Technology Center, a planned centerpiece of the research portion of federal money Congress appropriated in 2022 as part of the CHIPS Act.
“We hope this level of investment will attract more U.S. CHIPS Act investment to make it even bigger,” said Mukesh Khare, IBM vice president and general manager of its semiconductor business.
In addition to IBM, which has long been conducting chip research in Albany, companies participating in the project include Micron Technology, Applied Materials and Tokyo Electron.
The focus of the effort is the Albany Nanotech Complex, a cluster of research buildings affiliated with the State University of New York at Albany. The state plans to spend about $500 million to build a new 50,000-square-foot cleanroom building.
Another building is needed to accommodate the next big advance in a technology called lithography, which projects circuit patterns onto silicon wafers to make chips. Advances in such equipment are needed to create smaller transistors and other circuits to increase the power of computers and other devices.
The most advanced chips today are made using technology called extreme ultraviolet or EUV lithography. Dutch company ASML is the dominant supplier of the machines, which officials in the United States and the Netherlands have prevented from being sold to China as part of an effort to limit that country’s progress in chip manufacturing.
Albany Nanotech has owned prototype EUV tools and is currently operating a commercial version. Under the new plan, New York will invest $500 million to purchase a next-generation EUV system – known as “High NA,” for numerical aperture – that will allow the center to develop much more advanced chips.
In addition to permanent research jobs, state officials estimate the Albany project would generate 500 to 600 temporary construction jobs in about two years.
Albany NanoTech won’t be the first to use the High NA tool. Intel has ordered the first system from ASML, which is expected to begin installation in early 2024. The similar machine is expected to arrive in Albany in late 2025, Mr. Khare said.
The effort is unusual in several ways, including because the new machine will be state-owned and operated as a public resource to help the broader U.S. semiconductor industry, he added.
States in the Northeastern United States seem destined to play a major role in the evolution of the chip industry. U.S. Commerce Department officials also said Monday that BAE Systems in New Hampshire will receive its first grant under the manufacturing portion of the CHIPS Act.
Micron, a Boise, Idaho company that is the only U.S. manufacturer of chips used to store data, has also said it will spend up to $100 billion over the next decade or more to develop a new manufacturing site near Syracuse, NY.