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Tech Valley News
NanoFab East Expansion Officially Opens
University, government and business leaders joined together last week at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering to officially open NanoFab East, an expansion of the Albany NanoTech complex that will support $1B in new investments and 600 new high-tech jobs by 2013. The $150M, 350,000-square-foot expansion will host cutting-edge nanoelectronics research and development programs, business deployment and commercialization outreach initiatives for leading international companies, further establishing Tech Valley as a global leader in nanotechnology education, research, development and commercialization.
IBM also announced that it will extend its research and development partnership with CNSE through 2013.
The opening of the NanoFab East (NFE) Office and Laboratory Building and NanoFab Central (NFC) Cleanroom Building will add more than 350,000 square feet of prime office, laboratory, and class 1 cleanroom space to CNSE's Albany NanoTech complex. With the expansion, the UAlbany NanoCollege now covers more than 800,000 square feet, including 80,000 square feet of Class 1 capable cleanroom space - by far the largest and most state-of-the-art high-tech complex at any university in the world.
The new buildings will host cutting-edge nanoelectronics research and development programs, business deployment and commercialization outreach initiatives for a host of leading international companies, such as IBM, International SEMATECH, Vistec Lithography, M+W Zander, and Einhorn Yaffee Prescott Architecture and Engineering; a number of their high-tech suppliers, contractors and service providers; and students, faculty, scientists and researchers at CNSE.
"This expanded facility at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering is an outstanding model for the broader development investments New York must continue to make in order to foster the job creation that will attract business to our State and transform the engine of our economy," Governor David Paterson said. "We know that this strategic partnership between international technology companies and top-flight researchers will yield sustained results that will maintain Tech Valley's position as a center for high-tech advancement well into the future."
In addition, IBM announced that it will extend its R&D partnership with CNSE through 2013, by which time the company will have invested in excess of $1 billion into CNSE's Albany NanoTech Complex, helping CNSE to create and retain thousands of high-tech jobs across Tech Valley.
"The strategic partnership between New York State, CNSE and IBM has helped make Tech Valley the world leader in nanotechnology. The success of this alliance, both in driving regional economic development and in its powerful advancements in technological innovation, is why IBM is extending its participation through 2013," IBM Senior Vice President and Director of Research Dr. John E. Kelly III said.
The expansion is projected to enable employment growth at the UAlbany NanoCollege to more than 2,800 scientists, researchers, engineers, faculty and students by 2013, while further building the critical mass of leading global technology companies that will lure additional high-tech jobs, companies and investment to the global nanotechnology hub in Tech Valley.
The 250,000-square-foot NFE will provide state-of-the-art office, virtual classroom, conferencing, laboratory and business incubation space to support the R&D, education and technology development and deployment of CNSE and its corporate partners. NFE also serves as headquarters for International SEMATECH and home to the Institute for Nanoelectronics Discovery and Exploration, a $505 million initiative that focuses on cutting-edge nanotechnology research for future generations of transistor technologies.
Meanwhile, NFC is a separate 100,000-square-foot building that includes 15,000 square feet of class 1 cleanroom space. Both buildings were constructed by M+W Zander, one of the world's foremost companies for the design and construction of high-tech buildings and cleanroom facilities for R&D, pilot manufacturing, manufacturing, and assembly and testing operations.
Vistec Lithography, a leading global developer and manufacturer of advanced electron-beam tools critical to the future of nanotechnology, has built its most advanced R&D capabilities at CNSE's Albany NanoTech, and located its global headquarters, business operations, and manufacturing at the Watervliet Arsenal Technology Campus. Over the next five years, Vistec will invest $125 million and create 130 high-tech jobs in Tech Valley.
"This expansion at the UAlbany NanoCollege's Albany NanoTech Complex further illustrates why Vistec Lithography made the decision to move its entire company to New York's Tech Valley. Vistec looks forward to a long and prosperous future in New York, which we consider truly the world's capital for nanotechnology," Vistec Lihography President and CEO Papken S. DerTorossian said.
With the location of its headquarters at the UAlbany NanoCollege, International SEMATECH will create 450 new jobs, with another 4,550 high-tech jobs to be created and retained across New York State within the International SEMATECH "ecosystem" of 500 New York partner, supplier and contractor companies, more than two-thirds of which are located outside the Capital Region.
"This is an exciting day that truly marks a new chapter in the history of International SEMATECH, one that will enable our organization to enhance its leadership as the world's premier industrial consortium serving the global nanoelectronics industry. We are excited about the opportunity to advance this groundbreaking partnership that firmly establishes International SEMATECH and the UAlbany NanoCollege as the world's primary location for next-generation nanoelectronics research and development," said SEMATECH President and CEO Dr. Michael Polcari.
EYP is locating its new business group, EYP/energy - including 15 EYP executives, managers, architects, designers and engineers - within NFE as part of the $3.5 million National Institute for Sustainable Energy, a leading-edge center for zero energy and sustainability research and development, business advancement, commercialization and workforce training.
The UAlbany CNSE is the first college in the world dedicated to research, development, education, and deployment in the emerging disciplines of nanoscience, nanoengineering, nanobioscience, and nanoeconomics. In May 2007, it was ranked as the world's number one college for nanotechnology and microtechnology in the Annual College Ranking by Small Times magazine. CNSE's Albany NanoTech Complex is the most advanced research enterprise of its kind at any university in the world: a $4.5 billion, 800,000-square-foot megaplex that attracts corporate partners from around the world and offers students a one-of-a-kind academic experience.
The UAlbany NanoCollege houses the only fully-integrated, 300mm wafer, computer chip pilot prototyping and demonstration line within 80,000 square feet of Class 1 capable cleanrooms. More than 2,200 scientists, researchers, engineers, students, and faculty work on site at CNSE's Albany NanoTech complex, from companies including IBM, AMD, SEMATECH, Toshiba, ASML, Applied Materials, Tokyo Electron, Vistec Lithography and Freescale, with more than 2,500 scientists, researchers, engineers, students, and faculty expected by mid-2009.
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