Powerful team
IBM, Intel announce research partnership based at SUNY Poly
IBM, Intel working together at SUNY Poly.
Intel Corp. and IBM will collaborate on next-generation semiconductor research in a new initiative to be based in Albany, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer announced Monday. The collaboration would bring hundreds of jobs to the area, Schumer said.
Schumer made the announcement after a call with the CEOS of IBM and Intel. The work would take place at IBM’S Albany Research Facility located on the campus of SUNY Polytechnic Institute.
“This major new collaboration between Intel and IBM’S Albany Research Center is a job-creating match made in upstate heaven and highlights IBM’S deep history and investments in the semiconductor industry, as well as the worldrenowned talent of the nearly 1,000 strong semiconductor workforce at IBM and the broader set of industry and research partners in the Capital Region,” Schumer said. “The Capital Region is the perfect place to conduct semiconductor R&D and expand the country’s leadership in competitiveness in next generation chip research and manufacturing.”
Schumer said the collaboration also could position IBM to land a federally funded National Semiconductor Technology Center, which would create additional jobs locally.
“The semiconductor technology ecosystem we have assembled in Albany is uniquely positioned to deliver rapid new breakthroughs that will catalyze the economic and societal benefits of AI, quantum computing and other technologies while
transforming industries,” said Arvind Krishna, chairman and CEO of IBM. “We look forward to bidding for the NSTC, which would drive innovation at an even faster pace and double the 1,000-plus strong semiconductor innovation workforce in and around Albany.”
Officials at NY-CREATES, the state-run nonprofit that oversees real estate research programs at SUNY Poly and affiliated sites across upstate, have been working with IBM and other corporate and academic partners on a bid for the NSTC.
The NSTC would involve billions of dollars in potential new funding for Albany Nanotech, which operates the cleanroom facilities used by IBM and other research partners at the SUNY Poly campus.
Schumer led the effort to boost funding to support domestic semiconductor manufacturing in the fiscal year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
As much as $37 billion will be available to support construction of new fabrication factories, or fabs.
Globalfoundries CEO Tom Caulfield earlier this month told Reuters that Globalfoundries would seriously consider building a second chip factory in Malta if Congress approves the program, which was originally spelled out — but not financed — in the Defense Department budget bill passed by Congress just before former President Donald Trump left office in January.
Schumer proposed the program under a bill called the CHIPS Act. That measure was eventually rolled into the Defense Department spending bill, although Congress still must approve the spending. The funds could subsidize new fabs by companies such as Globalfoundries, as well as launch the federal chip research lab.
Schumer is seeking emergency funding to implement the NDAA semiconductor programs, as part of his Endless Frontier Act to support U.S. research and technology efforts.
Intel revealed its new research partnership with IBM last Tuesday as part of a larger announcement that the company will be spending $20 billion to build two new computer chip factories in Arizona and that it will be entering the so-called foundry industry making chips for other companies, putting it in direct competition with Globalfoundries, Samsung and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
Intel said the work with IBM would take place both in Albany and in Hillsboro, Ore., where Intel does its research and development.
Its unclear how many Intel workers would come to Albany or how much Intel and IBM would spend.
Both IBM, which also announced the new research partnership last week, and Intel say they will focus on chip technology and packaging technology, which is the process of taking a silicon “die” cut from a completed wafer and packaging it with connections and an outer shell to be used in electronics. Almost all packaging of chips is done overseas, although the National Semiconductor Technology Center envisioned for Albany would have a major focus on bringing packaging facilities back to the United States.
“This collaboration aims to accelerate semiconductor manufacturing innovation across the ecosystem, enhance the competitiveness of the U.S. semiconductor industry and support key U.S. government initiatives,” Intel said about the IBM collaboration.
Globalfoundries employs 3,000 people at its Fab 8 factory in Malta. A second fab built there would likely be called Fab 8.2.