Advanced Micro Devices and its new manufacturing spin-off Globalfoundries broke ground Friday on a $4.2 billion semiconductor fabrication plant in upstate New York. The construction of Fab 2 is scheduled to be completed and producing microprocessors by 2012 and is expected to create 6,400 new jobs, according to AMD and Globalfoundries.
"Fab 2 represents the culmination of AMD's multi-year vision to bring a leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing facility to the United States. This is an important opportunity to create thousands of jobs and strengthen US competiveness in the high-tech industry," said Dirk Meyer, president and CEO of AMD, in a statement.
The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based chip maker spun off its manufacturing properties to form Globalfoundries in March and AMD retains a 34.2 percent stake in the new company. The Abu Dhabi investment firm Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC) holds a 65.8 percent stake in Globalfoundries, though ATIC and AMD hold equal voting rights.
Fab 2, located at the Luther Forest Technology Campus in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., would become the second major manufacturing facility operated by Globalfoundries, joining the ATIC-AMD joint venture's Dresden, Germany-based Fab 1.
The new facility will produce the 28-nanometer and 22-nanometer generation of Globalfoundries products, according to AMD executive Ian McNaughton, blogging about the ground-breaking ceremony Friday. AMD, the only current customer of Globalfoundries, is now in the 45nm technology node with its microprocessors.
McNaughton, a senior manager of advanced marketing at AMD, also breaks down the job creation expectations for Fab 2. AMD and Globalfoundries estimate that 1,400 to 1,500 direct jobs will be created in addition to 5,000 indirect jobs for total yearly payroll worth $300 million, he wrote.
