Legit Reviews

MALTA, NY, May 4, 2012 — In coordination with The White House, GLOBALFOUNDRIES today announced it will help host a visit by President Barack Obama to New York’s Capital Region on Tuesday, May 8, 2012. The President’s visit, originally planned to be held at Fab 8, was moved to the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering’s (CNSE) NanoTech Complex at the State University of New York in Albany for logistical reasons.

President Obama’s visit will highlight the historic public and private investments in new advanced manufacturing, research and development, and education facilities helping to revitalize upstate New York and strategically position the United States in the global economy.

Today, New York’s Tech Valley is now a major hub for the global technology industry, attracting big firms, such as GLOBALFOUNDRIES, GE and IBM, as well as their suppliers, and smaller start-ups companies. The region is also home to world-renowned education and research facilities such as the global semiconductor research consortia SEMATECH, Rensselear Polytechnic Institute, and CNSE at the University of Albany.

“The President’s visit highlights the success of this region to create new public-private economic development initiatives. We’re proud of the role we are playing as a leading semiconductor manufacturer, investing in the new R&D and manufacturing operations now driving innovation, creating new jobs, and increasing economic opportunities throughout the Capital Region,” said Ajit Manocha, CEO, GLOBALFOUNDRIES. “On behalf of our more than 12,000 employees worldwide, and our more than 1,500 employees in New York, I thank President Obama and leaders in this region for recognizing the impact our investments are making to create new jobs and develop upstate New York as a premier hub for the global economy.

Consisting of almost two million square feet with an estimated capital budget of approximately $6.9 billion, Fab 8 is currently the world’s most advanced operating semiconductor fab. Fab 8 is expected ramp to volume production in late 2012 and, upon full build out, will have a production capacity of approximately 60,000 wafers per month.

Since breaking ground on Fab 8 in 2009, GLOBALFOUNDRIES has created more than 1,300 new direct jobs with the project, developing a unique and diverse workforce drawn from local talent in the region as well as experienced professionals from across the United States and more than 25 countries.

In addition, the project has created an additional 4,300 construction related jobs and established the largest private Project Labor Agreement in history, generating hundreds of millions of dollars of economic development throughout upstate New York during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

GLOBALFOUNDRIES has a total of about 1,500 employees across New York, including research teams at the IBM facilities in East Fishkill and at CNSE at the University of Albany, and more than 12,000 employees worldwide with six manufacturing campuses in Germany and Singapore.

Fab 8 is being developed in the center of what has been described as “Tech Valley”: a 19-county region of eastern New York State that spans from just south of Montreal to just north of New York City.

Over the past decade, what is today known as “Tech Valley” has seen billions of dollars of public and private investment, the result of which is the development of a true technology cluster in upstate New York with more than 200 high-tech companies, including many of the companies involved in the GLOBALFOUNDRIES supply chain, such as Air Liquide, Applied Materials, ASML, KLA-Tencor, M+W Group, Matheson Tri-Gas, and Tokyo Electron Limited.

Because the nature semiconductor manufacturing is extremely complex and requires a high degree of industry collaboration, even among competitors, operating advanced manufacturing physically close to leading-edge industry R&D Tech Valley’s burgeoning semiconductor “ecosystem” gives GLOBALFOUNDRIES a unique competitive advantage in the global marketplace.

Recognizing the region’s significance, Forbes recently placed the region at #4 on its annual lists “Best Cities for Jobs in the U.S.,” specifically citing many of these assets as contributing to the region’s economic outlook, and specifically recognizing the Fab 8 project as a key engine driving job creation and boosting economic activity in the region.

On Monday, April 30, ABC World News with Diane Sawyer ran a special “Made in America” series featuring the GLOBALFOUNDRIES Fab 8 project. The story highlighted the Fab 8 project’s positive impacts on the local community, local businesses, and local educational opportunities.

ABOUT GLOBALFOUNDRIES

GLOBALFOUNDRIES is the world’s first full-service semiconductor foundry with a truly global footprint. Launched in March 2009, the company has quickly achieved scale as one of the largest foundries in the world, providing a unique combination of advanced technology and manufacturing to more than 150 customers. With operations in Singapore, Germany and the United States, GLOBALFOUNDRIES is the only foundry that offers the flexibility and security of manufacturing centers spanning three continents. The company’s three 300mm fabs and five 200mm fabs provide the full range of process technologies from mainstream to the leading edge. This global manufacturing footprint is supported by major facilities for research, development and design enablement located near hubs of semiconductor activity in the United States, Europe and Asia. GLOBALFOUNDRIES is owned by the Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC). For more information, visit http://www.globalfoundries.com.