The Albany NanoTech Center has been selected as one of three national hubs for cutting-edge semiconductor research, a unique public-private partnership with at least $825 million in federal funding committed.
The center’s designation as the National Semiconductor Training Center comes as Hochul’s administration announces a $1 billion investment in Dutch-made ultraviolet lithography tools to make small, high-power chips essential to smartphones, laptops and computer servers. This was 10 months after that. The equipment will be installed in 50,000 square feet of space at the nanotech center and will be used to train workers to compete in an industry long dominated by the Chinese.
“This is a great day for upstate New York,” said Sen. Charles Schumer. “It will go down in history as one of the days that turned things around.”
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Schumer and Hochul hope the twin investments will create a pipeline of work-ready talent at tech giants like Micron and IBM, while reducing dependence on Chinese semiconductors. , this shortcoming has been highlighted by supply chain shortages during the pandemic.
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Hochul said the investment will “fuel a renaissance in America’s advanced manufacturing” and support at least 700 jobs.
“From day one of my administration, I vowed that New York State would lead the way in bringing advanced manufacturing and research and development back to America, creating good jobs and opportunity in the process,” Hochul said.
The funding comes from the CHIPS and Science Act signed into law by President Biden in 2022, with the goal of producing one-quarter of all microchips manufactured in the United States, with the goal of producing a quarter of all microchips manufactured in the U.S. over the next 10 years. It builds on hundreds of millions of dollars in promised technology funding.
In July, three large cities in upstate New York – Rochester, Buffalo and Syracuse – were collectively designated as one of dozens of tech hubs in the country. They will support tech giant Micron’s $100 billion investment in a chip manufacturing plant in Cray, outside Syracuse.
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Albany Nanotech’s research center is scheduled to open next year. The plan is to bring together researchers from universities in the state and collaborate with private companies. The goal is to discover technological breakthroughs while building a pipeline of workers with the skill sets to work in the semiconductor industry.
Schumer dismissed concerns that a change in party in the White House after Election Day could jeopardize the center’s future.
“There’s a locked-in contract,” Schumer said. “But let’s not forget that when I wrote the CHIPS and science bill, it was bipartisan. This has support from Democrats and Republicans.”
South Korea and Japan support this effort
In recent years, Schumer, the Senate majority leader, has traveled to Europe and Asia to drum up support for the idea among U.S. allies and industry leaders.
“I don’t travel much, but I did travel for this and spoke to the prime minister of South Korea and the leaders of Japan,” Schumer said. “The fact that they’re coming here means they’re not going to compete with us, but they’re going to work with us. And that’s good for upstate New York.”
Federal officials say Belgium is the only other public-private partnership of its kind. It’s likened to Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, which receives funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to find solutions to the nation’s energy, environmental and nuclear challenges.
The official title of the center is “The CHIPS for America National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Accelerator.” Funding comes from the Department of Commerce and NatCast, which operates the National Semiconductor Technology Center.
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The other two research centers have not been announced.
Thomas C. Zambito covers energy, transportation and economic growth for the USA Today Network’s New York State team. During his decades-long career at the New York Daily News, The Star-Ledger of Newark, The Record, and more, he has received numerous publications from The Associated Press, Investigative Reporters and Editors, Deadline Club, and more. He has won ten state and national writing awards. Hackensack. He can be reached at tzambito@lohud.com.
