AMD, ATIC Investing $4.2 Billion for New York Semiconductor Plant

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and United Arab Emirates-based Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC) have formed a joint venture company that will build a $4.2 billion semiconductor factory in Malta, New York. A statement from Globalfoundries, the new company created by the partnership, says the New York chip factory will be named Fab 2 and is expected to create approximately 1,400 new direct jobs and more than 5,000 indirect jobs in the upstate New York region. The plant will use 32-nanometer (32nm) manufacturing technology to build chip circuitry that is approximately one-millionth of an inch across. Company officials say that once the plant is operational, it will be the only independently managed advanced semiconductor factory in the United States. The Albany Times Union reports that AMD was offered more than $1.2 billion in cash and tax breaks from the state in 2006, when the factory was first proposed and that Doug Grose, Globalfoundries' new CEO, says the company has until July 31st to notify the state of its plans for the build, at which time it can become eligible for those incentives.