Intel, IBM, Sematech-backed R&D joint venture adds 475 jobs to NY

The project creates a high-tech venture between the SUNY Institute of Technology at Utica/Rome and the University at Albany’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering center, and establishes the Computer Chip Hybrid Integration Partnership.

By Suzanne Deffree, Managing Editor, News -- Electronic News, 7/16/2009

An upstate New York R&D partnership, funded with $92.5 million in capital funds from this year’s state budget and a combined capital investment of $133.5 million from IBM, Sematech, and Intel, has been announced this week and is expected to bring some 475 new jobs to the region.

The project creates a high-tech venture between the SUNY (State University of NY) Institute of Technology at Utica/Rome (SUNY IT) and the University at Albany’s CNSE (College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering) center, and establishes the Computer Chip Hybrid Integration Partnership (CHIP).

“This collaboration is based on the very successful model that has been developed at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at SUNY Albany,” NY Assemblywoman RoAnn Destito said in a statement. “Today we are announcing a series of 'firsts' that are the culmination of several years of discussion and planning that I have been working on with a number of key partners. Most importantly, the $35 million dollars in funding Speaker Silver and I have secured for this project will establish the first regional, cross-university research and development nanotechnology facility in upstate New York.”

The joint partnership aims to support the attraction and retention of small and medium size nanotechnology companies in the Utica-Rome, NY, area and aims to provide the necessary infrastructure to allow innovation, education, and commercialization of the growing chip industry in upstate New York.

SUNY IT said the project is expected to create as many as 475 supplier and contractor jobs in the region and to expand the nanotechnology industry throughout upstate New York.

“By leveraging critical state university assets, through SUNY IT and CNSE, and key corporate resources, through IBM and Sematech, within the New York nanoelectronics cluster, this partnership will establish in Utica-Rome the state-of-the-art infrastructure and capabilities necessary to enable innovation and commercialization, leading to the creation of hundreds of new high-tech, high-paying jobs," said Alain E Kaloyeros, CEO of CNSE, in the statement. "Longer term, this announcement will set the stage for future opportunities for high-tech corporate investments in the Utica-Rome area, including at the globally competitive Marcy Nanotech site.”

The venture also establishes the Computer Chip R&D Integration Center (CCIC) at the University at Albany. The center will partner with leading chip companies including IBM and Sematech to concentrate on R&D of unspecified SOCs. CCIC will create 200 new high-tech R&D positions at the university, SUNY IT said.

Additionally, the partnership creates the Computer Chip Commercialization Center (CCCC) at SUNY IT for the assembly and integration of SOCs developed at CCIC. The commercialization center will include a state-of-the art cleanroom and will act as a business incubator to attract chip suppliers and contractors at SUNY IT, including the first ever Sematech Center in upstate New York, the school said.

The partnership further creates a joint educational and training curriculum between the SUNY IT School of Information Systems and Engineering Technology and CNSE.