New York semiconductor research site picked for $825 million in CHIPS act funding

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer made the announcement Thursday.

The Albany NanoTech complex was selected by federal officials as the national headquarters for research into a cutting-edge semiconductor technology known as extreme ultraviolet, or EUV, lithography. The lab will have the most advanced chip-making machinery in the world and allow researchers from the semiconductor industry to collaborate with their university counterparts, according to Schumer, the Senate’s Democratic majority leader.

“When you do the high-end research, which will be done here, and you can make the most advanced chips in the world, it makes sure that our military has the edge,” Schumer said in a telephone interview. “It makes sure our economy and our companies have the cutting edge, as well,”

The National Semiconductor Technology Center Extreme Ultraviolet Accelerator is scheduled to begin operating next year. The contract for it stems from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, which was designed to create more high-tech jobs and help the United States compete with international rivals like China. The Biden administration has set a goal for the U.S. to make 20% of the world’s advanced chips.

The Albany lab’s selection also advances longstanding efforts by Schumer and other government officials to make upstate New York a global center of semiconductor research and manufacturing.

Gov. Kathy Hochul late last year announced a partnership with the semiconductor industry to fund construction of the EUV Center.

The Biden administration announced in February that the government would provide $1.5 billion to the computer chip company GlobalFoundries to expand its domestic production north of Albany and in Vermont. And in April, the administration announced an agreement to provide $6.1 billion in government support for Micron Technology to produce advanced memory computer chips near Syracuse, New York; and in Boise, Idaho.

“This is going to make upstate New York the center of semiconductor research, not just for America, but for the world,” Schumer said.

The Department of Commerce has not yet announced where the other two national technology centers will be.