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NY Governor George E. Pataki Announces Formation Of International SEMATECH NORTH At Albany NanoTech (UAlbany-SUNY)

Albany, NY (ots) – $400 Million Chip Research Investment By State
And Semiconductor Industry Seen As Major Job And Economic Growth
Stimulus For New York
New York Governor George E. Pataki has announced that
International SEMATECH (ISMT), the 12 member global consortium of
major computer chip manufacturers, will locate its next-generation,
300-mm R&D center --named International SEMATECH NORTH -- at Albany
NanoTech, the University of Albany -- SUNY's advanced nanoelectronics
facility for industry / university technology development and
application in nanoelectronics.
To support the program over the next five years, New York State
will contribute $210 million (which includes $50 million previously
allocated for the Albany NanoTech Center (ANT) of Excellence at
UAlbany and is included in the 2002-03 State budget) while
International SEMATECH and its member companies, including IBM will
add $193 million.
ISMT and UAlbany have signed a letter of intent to begin
negotiations on details of the International SEMATECH North (ISMTN)/
ANT strategic alliance. The initial project will be aimed at R&D in
the area of advanced lithography infrastructure for extreme
ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. EUV will be crucial for computer chip
manufacturing technology in the future because technical advances are
expected to cause present day manufacturing methods to become
obsolete for the most advanced chips.
ISMT and ANT-UAlbany hope to work out final details of the
strategic alliance by the end of the third quarter of this year. It
is expected that under the agreement, ISMT will provide technical
program definition, execution, management, and staffing while Albany
NanoTech provides facilities and funding leverage for the
infrastructure program that will be housed in the first of ANT's soon
to be completed state-of-the-art 300-mm wafer cleanrooms. ISMT and
Albany NanoTech will share executive management of the program as
well as the procurement of equipment and materials.
Gov. Pataki's announcement was enthusiastically received July 18
th by some 500 government, business and financial, and university
leaders gathered at the Albany NanoTech site at UAlbany. It
culminated 10 months of negotiation that began with a meeting between
the Governor and top officials of International SEMATECH and ANT on
September 10, 2001 at the first Albany Symposium on Global
Semiconductors and Nanotechnology at the Sagamore Hotel on the shores
of Lake George, NY.
The Albany Symposium (see www.albanysymposium.org) will be
repeated this year from Sept 11-13 and will again be co-hosted by
Albany NanoTech and the NY Capital District's Center for Economic
Growth As a result of the Gov. Pataki's announcement of the
International SEMATECH NORTH agreement, the Symposium is expected to
draw considerable interest as it focuses on the global business of
semiconductors and emerging nanotechnology.
At the ISMTN announcement ceremony on July 18th International
SEMATECH president Dr. C. Robert Helms recognized the commitments
provided by Governor Pataki and the State of New York, and looked
forward to the creation and implementation of ISMTN as an excellent
partnership in the service of its member companies and the industry.
"By jointly funding this major R&D initiative for success," he said,
"International SEMATECH can expand its infrastructure programs and
more efficiently address the critical challenges identified in the
International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors [a 15-year master
plan for the technical development in the global semiconductor
industry]. The ISMTN collaboration provides an unprecedented
opportunity to maximize the leverage of industry and state government
investments."
The establishment of International SEMATECH NORTH at Albany
NanoTech is the first expansion of International SEMATECH beyond its
Austin, Texas headquarters and research facility since the consortium
was founded in 1989.
The New York State Legislature will have to approve the State's
$210 million allocation, but State Senate Majority Leader Joseph L.
Bruno (R-Rensselaer, Saratoga) and Deputy Majority Leader, Ron
Canestrari (D-Albany, Rensselaer) who represented Assembly Speaker
Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) at the announcement, both said that
legislative support was widespread.
University at Albany President Karen R. Hitchcock said, "We are
delighted with the Governor's announcement of International SEMATECH
North at the University at Albany and his unflagging support and
vision as well as the support of Senate Majority Leader Bruno and
Assembly Speaker Silver.
Dr. Alain E. Kaloyeros, Executive Director of Albany NanoTech and
founding Dean of the University at Albany's new School of
Nanosciences and Nanoengineering, who Governor Pataki cited as being
an instrumental force in negotiating the International SEMATECH NORTH
agreement, himself said, "Clearly, as we join with International
SEMATECH in sponsoring international programs in advanced
semiconductor R&D, the state-of-the-art resources of the ANT-UAlbany
Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics will help launch a new era
for New York and UAlbany. This announcement gives testimony to the
vision and leadership of Governor Pataki and praise to his strategy
for turning New York State into an international high technology
magnet.
Details of the agreement now under discussion will place a
world-class R&D initiative here at UAlbany. We're committed to this
important industry-university collaboration, and look forward to
working with ISMT as a premier strategic partner to generate an
excellent return on investment for New York State and International
SEMATECH. International SEMATECH's decision to locate at Albany
NanoTech will make Albany the lead R&D hub in the world for this
industry.
The proposed alliance with International SEMATECH builds on each
organization's strengths. As we join with International SEMATECH in
sponsoring global programs in advanced semiconductor research and
development, Albany NanoTech looks forward to providing International
SEMATECH NORTH with the space and support it needs to expand its
infrastructure programs which are critical to the industry."
Albany NanoTech [www.albanynanotech.org] is the umbrella
organization that oversees and coordinates UAlbany's comprehensive
portfolio of academic, research, and outreach programs in
nanosciences and nanotechnology. It serves as a fully-integrated
research, development, prototyping, and technology deployment
resource that manages a strategic portfolio of focus centers
encompassing nanoelectronics, micro- and nanomechanical systems,
bioelectronics, telecommunications and wireless communications,
optical devices and components, leading edge metrology, and
sensor-on-a-chip devices for energy, environment, and defense related
applications. ANT currently maintains a $125M state-of-the-art
infrastructure, including laboratory, prototyping and cleanroom
facilities. It offers students and faculty the most advanced
facilities and equipment available today. Its asset value is
projected to exceed $500M once the two 300-mm wafer facilities are
completed.
The International SEMATECH (Semiconductor Manufacturing
Technology) research and development consortium includes: US firms:
IBM, Intel, Motorola, Hewlett-Packard, Texas Instruments, Advanced
Micro Devices, Agere Systems (Lucent); European firms: Philips
(Netherlands), Infineon Technologies (Germany), and
STMicroelectronics (France); and Asian firms: Hynix (Korea), TSMC
(Taiwan).
New York State's investment under the ISMT agreement will be
primarily for capital construction, equipment, and specialized tools
for International SEMATECH North research. ISMTN anticipates
employing about 250 researchers at the Albany site where its presence
could serve as a catalyst for private sector growth for years to
come.
In 2001, Gov. Pataki, as part of his proposed $1 billion
investment in high technology in New York, designated Albany NanoTech
(ANT) as a New York Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics. The
ISMTN announcement is a direct result of the Governor's efforts to
establish Centers of Excellence that are unique collaborations
between state government, industry, and universities. The underlying
objectives are to shorten the time to commercialization for research
ideas and new products, to utilize more efficiently the intellectual
talent resident in New York's academic institutions in producing
tangible results that benefit the people and the economy of the
state, and to foster job creation by increasing the asset value of
the state's hi-tech manufacturing base.
New York also provides $5 million annually to the National
Interconnect Focus Center in Interconnect Technologies, jointly
operated by UAlbany and RPI along with Stanford, MIT and Georgia
Tech, and sponsored by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA),
the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the top
semiconductor industry equipment suppliers. Total State support for
the Focus Center will reach $45 million by 2005.
The Governor also recently announced the creation of a new
technology park, including a life sciences facility, at the 300-acre
W. Averill Harriman State Office Campus adjacent to the University at
Albany. It is anticipated that spin-off companies and existing
companies that will locate near the International SEMATECH North
research center will be able to use this valuable resource for
economic development purposes.
In the fourth quarter of 2002, Albany NanoTech, will complete a
120,000 square foot, clean room-facilitated building -- the first
building in its 300-mm facility development. The second building is a
3-story, 225,000 square-foot structure with 36,000 square feet of
cleanroom plus 36,000 square feet of subsurface cleanroom support. It
is scheduled for completion in 2003, following which installation of
initial tooling will take place.
ANT will continue to maintain its current facilities that include
a 75,000 square foot wafer processing complex tooled for 200-mm
wafers, the current standard for chip manufacturing.
Since 1992 UAlbany R&D funding has grown fifty-fold, and UAlbany
has engaged in various national, industry, and state-funded R&D
initiatives. Gov. Pataki has championed the investment by New York of
more than $100 million in support for Albany NanoTech's computer chip
research facilities on the SUNY Albany campus. The State's $50
million commitment last year was accompanied by a $100 million pledge
from IBM as well as a number of grants from the federal government
and other chip makers for support of the 300-mm project. Under the
Albany NanoTech banner, adopted in 2001, and with the construction of
the two new 300--mm cleanroom facilities, ANT and UAlbany-SUNY become
a centerpiece in the Governor's $1B initiative to bring high-tech
companies and jobs to New York.
The economic impact of International SEMATECH NORTH on the economy
of upstate New York could be dramatic. Citing the economic growth
history of the city of Austin, Texas in the years following
SEMATECH's arrival in 1988, and the development of the vibrant
technology infrastructure in the Austin area, Gov. Pataki told an
enthusiastic audience that he foresaw a like transformation in the
upstate economy that could bring thousands of new high-paying jobs to
the Capital District, the Hudson Valley, the Mohawk Valley and
beyond. State Centers of Excellence in Buffalo (Bioinformatics),
Rochester (Photonics), Syracuse (Environmental Systems) and on Long
Island (Information Technology) will all benefit from the ISMNT
presence, vaulting New York into place as an international leader in
high-tech research and economic development, he said. Nearly $750
million in private sector and federal investments have been pledged
for Centers statewide, the Governor added, including the new private
sector International SEMATECH funding.
SUNY Prof. JoAnne Feeney, who closely follows technology and is
now on the ANT staff, offered an economist's assessment of the ISMTN
announcement. "Economists have long recognized that economic growth
is driven by technology," she said. "This makes the establishment of
ISMNT a landmark event because it sends a strong signal from the
semiconductor industry's leading corporations that they are confident
that upstate New York can attract and hold the high tech, well
educated workforce that the industry needs.
Places like Silicon Valley and Austin have attracted a skilled,
energetic workforce through the presence of multiple companies and
multiple job opportunities, " Feeney said. "ISMTN's presence will
create a spillover effect, generating a compounding economic leverage
for the Hudson Valley, an ability to attract firms of like and
related kind, an ability to retain graduates from its preeminent
academic institutions, and a growing number of employers.
Establishing conditions that could bring about the formation of
International SEMATECH NORTH clearly required the offices of
governmental leaders with vision and determination," she added.

Contact:

LaMar Hill
Albany NanoTech
Director of Business Development
Phone +1/518-437-8686
mailto:lhill@uamail.albany.edu
Internet: http://www.albanynanotech.org