오늘자 뉴욕타임즈에 따르면, Sematech(텍사스 오스틴을 세계적 Tech Center 로 만든 칩메이커 컨소시엄) 이 뉴욕의 알바니를 중심으로 Research Hub 를 만들 계획이라고 합니다. 이 컨소시엄은 (IBM, 인텔, 모토롤라, HP, TI, AMD, 필립스, 한국의 하이닉스, 대만의 TSMC등의 회사가 참여) 약 $193 Million, 뉴욕주가 $210 Million 을 대준다고 하는군요.

이에 따라 알바니 근처의 학교들(RPI, SUNY Albany, 보스턴의 학교들등)의 인기가 상종할 것 같습니다.

곧 완성이 될 뉴욕 East Fishkill 지역에 있는 IBM 의 300 미리 웨이퍼 플랜트와 더불어 차로 2시간 거리에 있는 이 곳이 정말 완성이 된다면 Hudson Valley지역은 미국에서 또 하나의 기술중심 도시가 되겠군요.

뉴욕타임즈 기사 원문
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/18/nyregion/18TECH.html


Albany Chosen as Research Hub for Next-Generation Chips
By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA

ALBANY, July 17 — The world's largest computer chip makers plan to build a major center for research and development on the next generation of chips here, at the State University of New York, a plan that state officials hope will bring thousands of jobs to the Hudson Valley.

State officials and a consortium of the chip manufacturers are to announce the $400 million project on Thursday, after almost a year of intensive, secret negotiations between the industry and Gov. George E. Pataki's office.
 
Despite the weak economy and a slumping technology sector, state and industry officials, as well as people who follow the industry, say the project could draw investments worth several times the cost of the project to the region.

The only other such center created by the computer chip consortium, International Sematech, was built in the late 1980's in another state capital and college town, Austin, Tex. Over the next decade, Austin became one of the best places to be in the high-tech world: It experienced explosive economic growth, drawing makers of chips, related materials, manufacturing tools and software to the region.

"I would expect it to have the same transformational impact on the regional economy here," Mr. Pataki said. "I honestly think this could be the most important economic development for upstate New York since the Erie Canal."

While such talk may be hyperbole, the announcement could be a political boon to Mr. Pataki, a Republican. As he runs this year for a third term, he can cite the center to counter his Democratic opponents, who are blaming him for the weak state of the upstate economy.

Though the economy in Albany, with its government offices and college campuses, has remained strong, and the Hudson Valley has by far the healthiest economy in New York State, officials say the center could create a multitude of jobs within commuting distance of struggling cities like Schenectady and Troy.

Members of the industry consortium include seven United States firms: I.B.M., Intel, Motorola, Hewlett-Packard, Texas Instruments, Advanced Micro Devices and Agere Systems, until recently a part of Lucent Technologies.

There are also five overseas companies: Royal Philips Electronics, the Dutch giant; Infineon Technologies of Germany; STMicroelectronics of France; Hynix of Korea; and TSMC of Taiwan. Officials of the consortium declined to say much about the deal before the announcement.

American chip makers, with the support of the federal government, created Sematech in the 1980's, when they feared that Japan would become the dominant force in chip manufacturing. Foreign makers were allowed into the consortium in the 1990's. Sematech plays the leading role in developing the basic architecture for computer chips. Individual manufacturers still compete to improve on that architecture, but the industry standards set by Sematech ensure that their products are compatible, even interchangeable.

Sematech also leads in developing the materials and tools needed to produce chips, and tests products. Officials say the Albany center's first task will be to develop improved methods of chip lithography, the etching of minute patterns into chips, particularly with ultraviolet light.

In describing the undertaking, New York officials repeatedly referred to the experience of the Austin area, which gained about 100,000 tech-related jobs and saw its population double in the decade after Sematech located there. Much of that growth, particularly in chip manufacturing, was directly related to Sematech's presence, according to economists and industry analysts.

"Sematech coming here will make Albany the lead R.&D. hub in the world for this industry," said Alain E. Kaloyeros, dean of the School of Nanosciences at SUNY Albany.

But several analysts cautioned that while the development was almost certain to boost the regional economy, Albany in 2002 is not Austin in 1988, and there is no guarantee that the effect will be the same.

For starters, the tech sector of the economy is slumping, as is Sematech itself; the consortium has been cutting its workforce. Any benefits to the industry or to New York from the new center could be delayed until a rebound, and analysts are split on whether to expect one soon.

Kenneth Flamm, a professor of economics at the University of Texas in Austin who studies the semiconductor industry, said, "Sematech being here drew a lot of companies here, because Austin became the logical place to do the materials manufacturing. But our growth was due to other factors, as well, though it's hard to attribute cause and effect for much of it."

Austin's great advantage, he said, was a a large, first-rate engineering school at the University of Texas that supplied a steady stream of professors and graduates to high-tech industries. It remains to be seen whether SUNY and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in nearby Troy, can be a similar source of talent.

The upper Hudson Valley's relatively low cost of living "is very much in its favor" in attracting new investment, said Richard A. Shaffer, principal of Technologic Partners, which advises venture capitalists on high-tech investments.

"To develop that kind of a regional economy like in Austin is a slow process that requires a gradual change in outlook among the people, the banks that do the lending, everybody," he said.

In its 1987 search for a home for its first center, Sematech considered offers from 36 states — New York was one of the finalists — trying to top each other in financial sweeteners. In the end, the chip makers contributed $125 million and the federal government $100 million. Texas put up $62 million to buy an existing factory for Sematech to convert and use, and made low-interest mortgages available to Sematech employees. But money alone did not carry the day — New York had offered $80 million and Massachusetts more than $200 million.

This time, the consortium negotiated seriously with only New York and a few foreign governments. And while the state will put up $210 million over the next five years for the new center — Sematech will supply $193 million — it did not agree to give the consortium any tax breaks or loans, a frequent element of the state's deals with private industry.

The State Legislature will have to approve the $210 million allocation, but representatives of both the Assembly and the Senate said yesterday that there was widespread support. Sheldon Silver, the Democratic Assembly speaker from Manhattan, is scheduled to appear at the announcement of the agreement.

Talks began last summer, when the Semiconductor Industry Association held a meeting at Lake George, where the governor addressed the group and met many of the industry leaders for the first time. Industry officials and analysts said that I.B.M., based in Armonk, N.Y., heavily influenced the decision to focus on New York. They also said that the companies were impressed by the growing high-tech sector in the Hudson Valley.

As recently as 1995, I.B.M. was considering leaving New York State, but Mr. Pataki persuaded the company to stay, in part with a generous package of financial incentives. I.B.M. then decided to build a $2.5 billion computer chip plant, now nearing completion, in East Fishkill, in Dutchess County. It will be the only major chip factory in the state and one of only a handful in the world to carve chips from wafers 300 millimeters wide, soon to be the new industry standard; this is expected to allow cheaper production than the long-used 200-millimeter wafers.

Mr. Pataki and the Legislature have invested more than $100 million in making SUNY's Albany campus a center for computer chip research, including early work on 300-millimeter wafers, and last year the governor established a "center of excellence" in nanotechnology there. The effort has drawn a $100 million commitment from I.B.M., as well as a number of grants from the federal government and other chip makers.