High tech consortium to put international headquarters in Albany

A global computer microchip consortium will put its international headquarters at its research center in upstate New York as part of a $600 million expansion, state officials and the company said Wednesday.

International Sematech, a consortium of leading nanoelectronics manufacturers, said it will invest $300 million in an expansion of its research and development program in Albany and use another $300 million provided by the state. The deal will increase the work force in Albany by 450 jobs over three years and provide $25 million for research at five colleges and universities.

Sematech's corporate offices and operations in Texas, which include its advanced materials programs and its subsidiaries ISMI, AMRC, and ATDF, will remain in Austin, the company said in a statement.

The announcement was a surprise and source of confusion in Texas, including to officials in the governor's office, according to Thursday's Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Under the terms of a 2004 deal to keep its headquarters in Texas, Sematech accepted a $40 million grant and agreed to a "contractual goal" of employing 4,000 workers in the state by 2014.

Sematech spokesman Dan McGowan was unable to clarify how the commitment in Texas would be affected by the New York deal and would not say how many people Sematech employs in Texas, the newspaper reported.

"We're still waiting to hear from the company," said Robert Black, a spokesman for Gov. Rick Perry.

In announcing the agreement Wednesday, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer said his state "is positioning itself as a leader in the innovation economy by providing both the facilities for state-of-the-art research and education of the tech savvy work force, and the assistance to translate nanoelectronics innovations into commercial products."

Sematech has had a research facility at the state University at Albany since a 2002 deal involving state incentives approved by the Legislature and then-Gov. George Pataki.

Advanced Micro Devices, which has tentative plans for a chip manufacturing plant in Saratoga County near Albany, is a partner in Sematech along with Hewlett Packard, IBM, Intel, Texas Instruments, Panasonic, Samsung, NEC, Micron Technologies and six other chip makers.

"We believe that the establishment of our International Sematech headquarters and operations in New York significantly strengthens our competitiveness and ability to provide our member companies with production-worthy technological innovations that meet the requirements of their technical and business roadmaps," said Sematech CEO and President Michael R. Polcari.

Sematech is a leader in the development and sales of nanolithography technology, a photographic process that imprints patterns used to make computer chips.

More than 1,600 scientists, researchers and other staff work at Sematech's Albany facility, a $3.5 billion, 450,000-square foot complex.

"This announcement is tremendous news for the Capital Region because it means hundreds of new jobs and will enhance our area's reputation as a global leader in high technology economic development," said state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.

State Assembly Leader Sheldon Silver said the announcement follows two years of discussion.

"This dynamic public/private research and manufacturing partnership will propel `Tech Valley' into the pantheon of world-class centers of high-tech research and development, as we envisioned a decade ago," Silver said.

Sematech was created in 1987 by 14 United States-based semiconductor manufacturers and began operations in 1988 in Austin to boost the domestic industry in a field dominated by Japan, according to the company's Web site. It later expanded to include companies based outside the U.S. and has been a key to Austin's growth as a high-tech research center.

"Congratulations to all involved," Pataki said. "This announcement ... is another major step in the transformation of the upstate economy, establishing New York and the Capital Region as the global center of excellence for nanotechnology."