Top state and federal officials gathered Tuesday at GlobalFoundries in Malta to celebrate $1.5 billion in federal funding.
GlobalFoundries officials say the cash infusion from the federal government will expand production of computer chips at the Fab 8 plant, allow for a second fab on the Saratoga County campus, and modernize the firm’s facility in Essex Junction, Vermont.
GlobalFoundries also announced more than $600 million in funding and incentives from New York state. The company plans to invest more than $12 billion over the next decade across its two U.S. sites. GlobalFoundries says the combined investments are expected to create over 1,500 manufacturing jobs and 9,000 construction jobs.
The agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce falls under the CHIPS and Science Act, which was spearheaded by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. The New York Democrat says the country has to manufacture its own chips.
"In the growing conflict with Russia, and particularly with China, one of the reasons they threatened Taiwan is because Taiwan is where so many of the chips are made and China is where so many of the chips are made," said Schumer. "If they could cut that off, they could cause a recession in America immediately. We cannot let that happen. And that's what we're doing here today. So this has implications not just for the Capital Region, which is so great, but for all of United States of America."
New York Governor Kathy Hochul agrees. "We've heard the story of our dependency on these chips that most people didn't even know what they were just a few short years ago. The dependency that came to light during the pandemic, and how do we know that here in the State of New York? Because when we couldn't get those chips from overseas, it literally shut down manufacturing of cars in our own state. We felt this profoundly, and we said, ‘Never again.’ Never again, can we be so dependent on support foreign supply chains, and all the uncertainty around geopolitical circumstances that we have no control over. We can't let our economy come down to that," said Hochul.
State Assemblymember Carrie Woerner of the 113th district says the funding announcement creates a real sense of optimism. "I spend a lot of time talking to our young people. And the clean technology and sustainability high school, early college high school program that's run out of Hudson Valley Community College, so many of the young people who are in that high school and early college program, get internships and mentorship with GlobalFoundries. And they go on to have a career in advanced manufacturing. That's what we're trying to build is an industry that will sustain the next generation," Woerner said.
White House Coordinator for CHIPS implementation Ryan Harper notes the Malta facility is focused on the auto industry, and enjoys a partnership with General Motors. The funding allows the U.S. to restore technology that currently sits overseas.
"The Vermont facility in particular is a revitalization of an existing facility in Vermont in Burlington, Vermont," Harper said. "And it will both commercialize some new technologies that were in development, it will create the first US capability, capable of high volume manufacturing of some next generation materials, gallium nitride, these are the kinds of chips that will be used in electric vehicles, the power grid, smartphones."
Harper says next on the timetable is a "due diligence phase" involving the U.S. Department of Commerce... "...where they dot I's cross T's and make sure that the plan is laid out in robust detail. As part of that Commerce identifies provisions that protect you as taxpayers, and ensures the company will hit milestones and the funds will be distributed on a milestone basis moving forward. So over the length of the project over the next five to 10 years, that money will be distributed in time. But I think the impacts will be seen starting, you know, in months, and over the next year," Harper said.
