Lawmakers: State budget commits $585 million to nanotechnology in Mohawk Valley

MARCY, N.Y. — The newly approved New York state budget includes $585 million for the nanocenter site in Marcy.

The allocation “further solidifies” the state’s investment in the “Mohawk Valley’s future as a center of nanotechnology,” New York State Senator Joseph Griffo (R–Rome) and State Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi (D–Utica) contended in a news release issued Friday.

It’s the location where Austrian–based company ams AG is investing $2 billion to develop a three-story, 360,000-square-foot chip-wafer fabrication facility near the SUNY Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly) campus.

The firm is bringing 1,000 new jobs to the Nano Utica site in Marcy.

The firm makes “high performance” sensor products and analog integrated circuits (or ICs).

General Electric (GE) Global Research will also expand its New York operations to the Mohawk Valley.

GE Global Research will be the anchor tenant of the computer-chip commercialization center (Quad-C) at SUNY Polytechnic Institute’s Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) in Marcy.

New York expects SUNY Poly, GE, and affiliated corporations to create nearly 500 jobs in the Mohawk Valley in the next five years and another 350 positions in the subsequent five years as well.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Aug. 20, 2015 made both jobs announcements during a visit to the Quad-C building as part of the “Capital for a Day” initiative in Utica.

As both companies proceed with their construction projects this year, Senator Griffo and Assemblyman Brindisi agreed that New York’s willingness to complement these private investments with state funding will help the ams AG project become a reality much sooner.

The funding commitment represents the “reaffirmation” of New York’s commitment to the ams AG project at the Marcy Nanocenter site that was Gov. Cuomo announced last year, Steve DiMeo, president of Mohawk Valley EDGE, said in the lawmakers’ news release:

“The earthwork that is underway will soon be transformed as construction begins on AMS’ high-performance, wafer-fabrication facility that will overlook the Mohawk Valley and be an important part of the region’s skyline and economic landscape, and represents the beginning of our economic transformation. We look forward to having AMS and GE become a valuable part of our region’s economy to create opportunities for attracting additional technology companies to our region,” said DiMeo.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com