Now Hear This!

Global Foundries had two milestone events in the last week, ones that perked up another rainy workweek for this New Yorker. This morning the company announced its first customer as aspun out company from AMD,  landing low-power manufacturing work for bigwig STMicroelectronics. And prior to that, the company announced Friday it had broken ground on its upstate New York 300-mm fab.

Admittedly, I've had little confidence that shovel would meet dirt on this ground breaking. Covering the fab since rumblings of AMD plans began in 2006 and for years attending AMD events where execs danced around questions on the plans for the fab build -- a dance that continued until the company found itself struggling against the economy and its own loss-ridden financials -- like many in this industry, I had little confidence that the fab would ever come to fruition.

To be true, I'm still cautious on Global Foundries and its ability to compete with foundries like TSMC, UMC, and SMIC, especially in these turbulent economic times. But as EDN's one and only resident New Yorker, I welcome you, Global Foundries, to our state.

Many will comment that NY was a bad choice. It's an expensive place to live, they'll say. Yes, NY is one of the highest cost of living states in all of the United States. But that's an average, one that includes Manhattan's Park Avenue, Long Island's Hampton estates, and the McMansions of Westchester. Go North, toward Malta where many homes sell below the $200K mark, and it's a much different story. 

Doubters will also say that NY is an expensive place to build, but considering the state kicked in $1.2 billion in incentives for the $4.2 billion fab, I don't think Global Foundries will be complaining. California may have chased out its manufacturing, but NY is happy to have it. And rightfully so, as the fab is expected to add 1,400 new, direct semiconductor manufacturing jobs at full-scale production for an estimated annual payroll of more than $88 million. The build is also expected to create some 5,000 new, indirect jobs in the region, like in construction and local businesses, offering an estimated total annual payroll of $290 million for all jobs.

And speaking of jobs, thanks for putting them on US soil. Global Foundries does have a fab in Germany that this new NY fab will work with, but the company could have easily chosen to drop AMD's pre-existing NY fab plans when the economy went sour and could have located the plant overseas as have many other semiconductor industry companies in recent years. Yet, despite delays, shovel did hit dirt last week and much of NY is cheering.

Indeed, I won't be the only one happy to see Global Foundries move in. Besides residents in need of jobs and local government, it will surely get a visit from the growing "Silicon Alley" welcome wagon. IBM, established in upstate NY, as well as a growing number of companies including Applied, Sematech, and Novellus that have partnered with of the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) at the University at Albany's NanoTech Complex, all play in the region. CNSE should, by the way, provide plenty of fresh high-tech talent to upstate NY and has already this year announced that it managed to add more than 1000 jobs. 

So, again, welcome to our state, Global Foundries. Don an "I Love NY" tee shirt, root for the Yankees (not the Mets -- and heaven forbid the Red Socks), and learn to add a W to the pronunciation of the word "coffee" (pronounced "caw-fee" by true Empire State residents). You'll fit in in no time.

What do you think? Should Global Foundries have dropped AMD's NY fab plans for a different North America or over seas location? Share your opinion below.