Posted: February 29, 2008

State board approves $300M Sematech funding

(Nanowerk News) A state board unanimously approved $300 million on Friday for International Sematech's move to Albany, N.Y., the final step in the oversight process.
The five-member Public Authorities Control Board was the last group that needed to sign off on the grant, which the state Legislature approved in May 2007. The state's economic development arm also has approved the funding, which International Sematech will match.
International Sematech is a subsidiary of Sematech Inc., an Austin, Texas, consortium of computer microchip manufacturing companies. The company has had a research operation at the University at Albany since 2002, a partnership that received $160 million in state funds. It currently has about 250 employees on campus.
Now, International Sematech – which focuses on semiconductor manufacturing and research – will add an extra 450 jobs by moving its headquarters to the area, according to state officials.
Those jobs will be housed at UAlbany's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, on the Albany NanoTech campus. The school previously said those positions will have an average annual salary that's 75 percent higher than the average private-sector job in New York, at close to $100,000.
The State University of New York system's research foundation will administer the state funds. The funds will be used to buy machines and other equipment for Sematech, which must meet annual job creation thresholds in order to continue receiving allotments from the state grant.
Construction on the company's $150 million, 250,000-square-foot headquarters at UAlbany's NanoTech campus is ongoing.
Source: Business Review