New York lawmakers are pushing for the Albany NanoTech Complex to be chosen as the site of the nation’s first National Semiconductor Technology Center.
At the SUNY Polytechnic Institute’s Colleges Of Nanoscale Science And Engineering Monday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer sought to present the Albany complex as a nation-leading facility ideal for the hub created by his bill, the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act.
“We've long had a history of manufacturing innovation in upstate New York and here in the Capital Region. We're the birthplace of IBM, which has played an instrumental role here at Albany NanoTech and we are home to some of the most shovel ready sites for chip investment in the country,” Schumer said. “When I wrote USICA, the United States Innovation and Competition Act, I included funding for the creation of the first National Semiconductor Technology Center in the country and guess what was on my mind when I wrote that: a six letter word, A-L-B-A-N-Y.”
The Democrat says the bill he co-sponsored is expected to pass the House after stalling. It has already passed the Senate. Schumer invited U.S. Deputy Commerce Secretary Don Graves to tour the facility with him and New York Governor Kathy Hochul.
Schumer says Albany NanoTech has the most advanced machinery that makes semiconductor chips and is key to the United States staying ahead of other countries like Holland and China.
“They're making these chips smaller and smaller. I was told on a little chip about the size of your thumbnail, there can be 50 billion transistors - is that incredible? But, when you take the tour, they have the machines and the technology to do just that and that makes our companies more efficient and it allows products to eventually come to people, to even average consumers, that are cheaper and more effective,” Schumer said. “So, what it means here is we have to invest in new technology. If we want to stay number one in semiconductor research, in these new in these cutting edge chips, we have to invest, we have to invest in manufacturing.”
New York Governor Kathy Hochul echoed her fellow Democrat’s point that Albany is in a unique position as shovel ready for new manufacturing plants.
“We need to train the workers, but not just to be the technologists,” Hochul said. “We need welders, we need people in construction, because they're going to be building where you see parking lots right now. Under our joint vision, you're going to see new buildings going up, and we want to do it as quickly as we can, because shovel ready is the operative word. You will draw people who don't have to worry about, ‘Are they going to get the site review and the transportation plans and the … give them a site that's ready for them to leap into.”
Speaking at the press conference after taking the tour, Graves says the country must invest in advanced manufacturing to avoid serious economic repercussions.
“30 years ago, as the governor mentioned, we own basically 40 percent of the production of semiconductors, but we're nowhere close to where we need to be today – 12 percent of global production and somewhere close to zero percent of the advanced chips, the most advanced chips. That that isn't going to cut it in the 21st century,” Graves said. “It doesn't just create problems when you're thinking about purchasing a smartphone or an appliance. The ripple effects have affected every part of our economy. The shortage is expected to cost the auto industry $210 billion in revenue, with almost 8 million units of production forecast to be lost for 2021.”
While Hochul attempts to push the Albany NanoTech facility into the nation spotlight, she included in her a proposal that would establish Buffalo and Stony Brook as the State University of New York’s flagship campuses. She has faced pushback from Capital Region state lawmakers for excluding SUNY Albany, which was once merged with the Nanotech facility. Hochul has also proposed merging the two facilities once again.
Hochul was asked about the designation at the Albany Nanotech campus Monday after the press conference.
“I’m excited about this. We’re going to have a new SUNY chancellor,” she told reporters. “We’re going to unleash the full potential of SUNY and that will be one of our strengths when we’re trying to market our state to bring people here, so they shouldn’t worry about our plans, but they’re going to be very bold and very ambitious.”
