NSTC in Albany focuses on future of chipmaking

ALBANY — It’s said to have the “most advanced” chip-making machinery that will bring together the nation’s top industry leaders, universities, innovators, and entrepreneurs under one roof. The country’s first National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) is now open at Albany NanoTech in the Capital Region. The NSTC’s overall mission is to “ensure the future of innovation in chipmaking happens here” in the U.S., the office of U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) contended in its announcement. Schumer was in Albany for the July 14 formal-opening ceremony. The center “firmly establishes Upstate NY as the heart for America’s semiconductor research and manufacturing,” the lawmaker boasted. The 2022 CHIPS & Science Act, which Schumer helped spearhead through Congress as then-U.S. Senate Majority Leader, created the center, his office noted. The NSTC EUV (extreme ultraviolet) Accelerator at Albany NanoTech is a place for leaders in the semiconductor industry to conduct research and collaborate. That includes bringing industry leaders like Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU), which is coming to the town of Clay; IBM, which is headquartered in Westchester County; GlobalFoundries in Malta in the Capital Region; ASML of Wilton, Connecticut; Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT); Tokyo Electron Ltd., and more to the table to partner on next-generation research and development. Schumer’s office said EUV technology is essential to the semiconductor industry and is some of the most advanced machinery in the world, in which light is used to print patterns and make chips on wafers. EUV lithography is what has allowed the breakthroughs to make this technology nanoscopic and allows for the chips that power everything from smartphones, computers, and vehicles to artificial intelligence. The NSTC EUV Accelerator at Albany NanoTech is one of three major NSTC facilities. The U.S. Department of Commerce announced that California’s Silicon Valley will host NSTC’s Administrative and Design Facility and Phoenix, Arizona will host the Prototyping and Advanced Packaging Piloting Facility. In his announcement, Schumer proclaimed the country’s first-ever National Semiconductor Technology Center is “open for business!” “Today, the eyes of the world turn to Albany and Upstate NY as the next frontier where the scientific and engineering breakthroughs in chipmaking that we cannot even fathom today will happen. The ribbon cutting for this facility will be heard like a sonic boom and make it clear that America will lead the future of semiconductor technology,” the senator said.