From Nano to Mega

From the Desk of the Editor in Chief

In October, our thoughts usually turn to ripe, juicy apples and autumn leaves that paint a multi-colored coda across the landscape. We can’t think of a better place to celebrate this annual ritual than Upstate New York.

Nestled among the scenic wonders along New York’s Hudson River is a cluster of initiatives that are making the Empire State the national leader in advanced high-tech manufacturing. This month, we focus on the crown jewel of New York’s Tech Valley: GlobalFoundries’ $4.2-billion Fab 8 semiconductor manufacturing facility at the Luther Forest Tech Campus in Malta, NY.

Rising above a former rocket-fuel test site is a 300,000-square-foot cleanroom soon to be packed with sophisticated tooling producing the most advanced microchips in the world, based on nanotechnology refined at the University of Albany’s $6.5-billion College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering. Components on GF microchips will be as small as 22 nanometers—much smaller than the period at the end of this sentence.

The synergistic harmony between the GF project and a multitude of R&D resources in the region is as spectacular as the fall foliage symphony in the surrounding woods. As President Obama declared during a recent visit to the region, all of the ingredients are present for a better future.

We invite you to take a bite out of this apple and savor the high-tech bumper crop being harvested in Upstate New York.