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Archive for the ‘GlobalFoundries’ Category

Kevin Middleton and Allison Kopacz, part of Oliver Winch Middle School's Red 7 program at GlobalFoundries.

The President didn’t get the chance, but students at Oliver W. Winch Middle School in South Glens Falls recently traveled to Malta to explore GlobalFoundries.

Last year, through the school’s Home and Careers program,  a representative from GlobalFoundries delivered a presentation to students about the chip fab company.  This year,the Red 7 Team – an interdisciplinary team of teachers that have a Home & Careers component directly woven into their curriculum – decided to further explore GlobalFoundries, in person, to cap-off the yearly career unit.

Red 7 students were able to view visuals and labs, and discussed technology with employees and managers, gaining a better perspective of how individuals, companies, and cultures are directly interconnected.  According to a program representative, this experience exposed the students to leading edge technology and innovations for 2012 and beyond.

We reported Thursday that the president was coming! Well, there’s been a change in plans. He’s going to Albany instead.

Press release from the White House:>>On Tuesday, May 8, the President will travel to the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering’s (CNSE) Albany NanoTech Complex at the State University of New York in Albany, New York for an event on the economy. CNSE’s Albany NanoTech Complex is a fully-integrated research, development, prototyping, and educational facility that provides strategic support through outreach, technology acceleration, business incubation, pilot prototyping, and test-based integration support for onsite corporate partners, including IBM, Intel, GlobalFoundries, Applied Materials, as well as other next generation nanotechnology research activities. Due to logistical reasons, the President’s event will no longer be held at GlobalFoundries in Malta, New York but representatives from GlobalFoundries will join the President at CNSE. Governor Cuomo will also join the President at Tuesday’s event.>>

Credit: The Economist

“We’re thrilled President Obama is returning to the Capital Region and to Saratoga County specifically this time,” Todd Garofano, president of the Saratoga Convention and Tourism Bureau, said. “His visit also coincides with Saratoga hosting two international semiconductor conferences this month. One, the World Semiconductor Council conference only comes to the United States once every six years and brings together the CEO’s of the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturing companies. They chose Saratoga as a direct result of GlobalFoundries presence here. Thanks to GlobalFoundries, the spotlight is on Saratoga County and our entire region. The emergence of our high-tech industry has had a tremendous economic impact on our entire region, through many different layers including hotel stays and convention business and will continue to do so for years to come.”

If you missed ABC World News’ ”Made in America” feature last night, you can check it out here (or below). The four minute segment, dubbed “Small Town Goes High-Tech,” focuses on GlobalFoundries‘ impact on Malta and the surrounding area.

GlobalFoundaries’ impact on Saratoga County is the subject of the Monday, April 30 ”Made in America” segment on ABC’s World News with Diane Sawyer. The program begins at 6:30 p.m. on WTEN Ch. 10.

ABC crews apparently visited the area on April 4 to shoot the piece which focuses on American manufacturing and the US economy. The crew toured the GlobalFoundries Fab 8 and HVCC TEC SMART facilities, and met with local residents and businesses who are feeling the impact of the development.

ABC producers first learned of the GlobalFoundries project in a February story in the Christian Science Monitor. That story came about after SEDC, the Saratoga County Chamber and the Saratoga County Convention and Tourism joined in an effort to showcase Saratoga County’s business assets to the nation and the world.

Source: The Economist

“AMERICA’S wealthy, lured by the mineral springs, flocked to Saratoga during the 19th century. Gilded-Age figures such as J.P. Morgan, the financier, summered there. The race course, which opened in 1863, became a huge draw. Even James Bond placed a flutter at the Saratoga track in “Diamonds are Forever”. Yet, until recently, Saratoga did not have much else going for it.”

GlobalFoundries and local towns and school districts have reached a deal on the town of Malta’s assessment of the company’s computer chip factory in Malta.

Read Larry Rulison’s story here and let us know what you think.

From Cotler Architecture in Latham

One of the biggest modern projects planned for Mechanicville and Stillwater will proceed when its developer picks a partner and agrees to a deal with the town on fees.

William McNeary IV had planned to start construction in 2011 on The Esplanade, a 335,000-square-foot commercial and residential facility along the Hudson River, but McNeary said the nearly $42 million project was put on hold while he searched for assistance.

“I’m in the trucking and warehousing business, and feel it would be best served if I had a partner strictly focused on apartments,” McNeary said in an interview.He said several parties were interested in joining with him to build The Esplanade’s 225 apartments and 36,730 square feet of commercial space on 10 acres in Mechanicville and 1 acre in Stillwater along routes 4 & 32. He did not identify potential investors, but said it was only a matter of time before he selected one. The project would serve workers at the GlobalFoundries plant located less than five miles away.

“We think the project is going to be a great community for the chip fab, and all the new people that need housing,” said McNeary, who is the owner of Logistics One, a warehousing development company in Saratoga Springs.

McNeary already has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in engineering and architectural fees. The mixed-use project has been approved by Mechanicville and Stillwater land use boards, and the Mechanicville-Stillwater Industrial Development Agency voted last year to give McNeary 20 years of tax exemptions and abatements.

McNeary would not say when the project would take off again. He would have to pay Stillwater more than $50,000 in building fees before breaking ground, but town Supervisor Ed Kinowski said the Town Board was working on adjusting that or changing when or how it had to be paid.

“I have yet to meet with him on how they want to resolve fees,” Kinowski said.

Growing demographic and economic diversity in southern Saratoga County is the subject of a public forum at 2 p.m. Sunday in the Clifton Park-Halfmoon Library.

Long considered one of the Capital Region’s most homogenous areas, technology sector growth has begun to change the area just north of the Albany County line, community leaders said. Sunday’s panel discussion will address the shift.

“The school, the library and business community recognize that this region is changing as a result of economic development, and the community conversation is about how we start to build awareness within our community,” said Oliver Robinson, superintendent of Shenendehowa schools. Shenendehowa now helps more than 100 students in its English-as-a-second-language program, up from fewer than 20 students several years ago, Robinson said.

He, Pete Bardunias, the president of the Southern Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce, and Phillip Naftaly, a sociology and anthropology professor at Adirondack Community College, will serve as panel speakers.

“People have a lot of questions on how new global interest in southern Saratoga County is going to affect them, and what it means for the future of our careers, lives and even our country,” Bardunias said.

Many changes stem from workers coming into the area for jobs at GlobalFoundries in Malta. The computer chip manufacturing facility has drawn several hundred internal workers from Singapore, Germany and other U.S. locations in the last year. About 60 percent of the company’s 1,400 to 1,600 total new hires will occupy equipment operator or technician jobs, 30 percent engineering jobs, and 10 percent administrator positions. The population of Saratoga County is expected to increase from 219,607 to 233,633 in 2020, 246,647 in 2030 and 258,305 in 2040, according to the Capital District Regional Planning Commission.

Persons from other cultures often have different expectations for business, education and life in general, Bardunias said. The public forum will address how to accommodate new members of the community while learning from them, he said.

Have you noticed new people on your block, in your children’s classrooms or while food shopping? I’m hearing anecdotal evidence that new GlobalFoundries workers are starting to settle in the area in larger numbers. I recently met a couple from Germany who relocated to Ballston. Here’s a story about the new arrivals and how they are shopping for homes. Are you being impacted in any way?

Albany County 304,204 307,201 311,707 316,197

Rensselaer County 159,429 158,579 159,895 161,379

Saratoga County 219,607 233,633 246,647 258,305

Schenectady County 154,727 148,694 148,751 148,950

Capital Region 837,967 848,107 867,000 884,831

Source: The Capital District Regional Planning Commission; *Census numbers