The Globalfoundries Chip Plant in Malta, New York

Globalfoundries Fab2 Construction site in Malta, New York

I went to the community open house at the Globalfoundries Fab2 construction site in Malta, New York this morning. Globalfoundries had a nice tent set up with hot coffee, cookies, donuts, etc. It was a good thing because it was raining pretty hard and the gravel parking lot had a lot of water on it. Globalfoundries and M + W Zander had people on-site to answer questions about the project. They had a few large pictures of the construction site inside the tent as well as artist conceptions of the completed building.

The actual construction site could be seen from outside the tent.  I took a few of my own pictures that you can see below. Double click on any of the pictures to enlarge them. It is a pretty impressive site. You can’t see the construction site from any of the main roads in the area because it is a few miles deep into The Luther Forest. It is on Stone Break Road off of Route 9 in Malta. I doubt that you can get into the actual construction site except for events like this. (Google Maps can’t locate “Stone Break Road, Malta NY”,  unless you include the zip code 12020, but Bing.com can find it without the zip code.)

By the time I arrived they had run out of “fact sheets” but I was told to check their website and the information would be updated by Tuesday, October 27th. You can find their website at Globalfoundries.com.

Hector Ruiz, the chairman of GlobalFoundries said that the new chip plant is “by far the most significant high-tech investment made in this country in decades.” This plant will produce the most advanced computer chips in the world when it is completed.

I wrote a previous article about the chip plant in March. You can read it here: Globalfoundries Chip Plant in Saratoga County New York.

The refreshment tent at the Globalfoundries Community Open House

The Globalfoundries construction site

The Globalfoundries construction site

The Globalfoundries construction site

The Globalfoundries construction site

The construction and eventual operation of this plant will be an economic boost to Saratoga Springs and the surrounding area for years to come. What do you think about the plant? Leave a comment or send me an email. Thanks.

GlobalFoundries Chip Plant in Saratoga County, New York

GlobalFoundries is building a new $4.2 billion computer chip plant about 15 miles from my house. It will be the most modern chip plant in the world when it is completed in 2012. It will be built in the Luther Forest Technology Campus (LFTC) located on 1,414 acres in Malta and Stillwater New York. It will be just a mile or two from Saratoga Lake and a few more miles from the city of Saratoga Springs.

GlobalFoundries, based in Sunnyvale, California, is a new company created by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC) of Abu Dhabi. AMD creates and designs computer chips for personal computers and servers. While Intel is AMD’s largest competitor, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation is GlobalFoundries biggest competitor. GlobalFoundries has an existing chip plant in Dresden, Germany. If you click on the link, it will show you a picture of the chip plant in Dresden. The new chip plant will look similar to the one in Germany.

ATIC is a company created by the government of Abu Dhabi. ATIC will own 56.6% and AMD will own 44.4% of the new company.

Luther Forest is just off exit 12 of the Adirondack Northway (I-87). The part of I-87 that runs from Albany, New York to the Canadian border near Montreal is known as the Adirondack Northway. I drove around Luther Forest the other day and I was surprised to see how many private homes were in the area and how close it was to Saratoga Lake. I am not complaining though. This area can use some good, high paying technical jobs. GlobalFoundries says that it will create 1,465 jobs at the chip plant when it is fully operational and that over 5000 other jobs will be created by outside vendors to service and support the chip plant. It should help the economy of this area for years to come.

A chip plant is also known as a Fab, short for fabrication plant. The new plant in Malta, NY will be known as Fab 2. The Dresden, Germany plant is Fab 1.

Hector Ruiz, the new chairman of GlobalFoundries said that the new chip plant is “by far the most significant high-tech investment made in this country in decades.”

I plan to write more about the building of the chip plant and its impact on the area in future posts.

Do you have a specific question about the chip plant that wasn’t answered here? Leave a comment and I will see if I can find the answer. I appreciate your comments.