Albany, New York–The Governor of New York, George E. Pataki, recently kicked off a $1 billion, high-tech initiative to fund advanced university R&D and economic outreach. As a result, ground will be broken early this year at the University of Albany on a state-of-the-art microchip prototyping laboratory–Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics at Albany–capable of processing 300mm wafers.

Leading semiconductor industry companies have already expressed interest in collaborating with the university to cost-effectively solve key scientific and 300mm manufacturing problems and to train a highly skilled workforce. The center will be led by IBM Corp., in collaboration with the University of Albany, and will help meet the workforce training needs of IBM’s recently announced $2.5 billion 300mm fab in East Fishkill.

The high-tech initiative is also investing $27.5 million to support construction of a 300mm computer wafer pilot prototyping facility at SUNY Albany’s Center for Environmental Sciences and Technology Management, and $5 million annually to support the joint SUNY and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute ‘Focus Center- New York’ semiconductor research program.