April 22, 2010 Jobs grow along with chip fab plant's walls By BLAKE JONES, bjones@poststar.com
QUEENSBURY -- Just a year ago, the GlobalFoundries site in the Luther Forest Technology Campus was mostly trees.
A half-million man hours later, crews are enclosing the exterior of the computer chip fabrication plant and installing the utilities necessary to support operations there.
As the $4.2 billion project begins to take shape, anticipation of its economic impact on the region is growing.
On Thursday, about 300 members of the local business community gathered for the annual luncheon of the Warren County Economic Development Corp. at the Great Escape Lodge, where the man at the center of the GlobalFoundries construction effort talked about the progress.
Rick Whitney, chief executive of M+W U.S. Inc., put the scale of the massive project, as well as the infinitesimally small technology it will manufacture, into perspective.
Whitney also spent a lot of time talking about the spinoff business the foundry will create. As GlobalFoundries begins to make its supplier choices, many firms will presumably set up shop within reach of the plant, he said.
Whitney expects support for the chip fab to include six to eight equipment suppliers; 10 to 15 secondary equipment suppliers; six to 10 material support firms; six to 10 equipment install contractors; facility support such as laundry services and pump repair; and site services such as catering, exterior maintenance, landscaping, security, and trash.
Shovel-ready and pre-permitted sites are important for companies looking to make a significant investment in the area, he noted, adding that many more support businesses will be looking for "flex space" they can lease long-term.
"The businesses that are coming to support GlobalFoundries aren't looking for downtown office space," Whitney said. "They are looking for flex space where they can do manufacturing - a place that can support storage and have a nice office.
"They are looking for someplace where they can get the shovel in the ground in the three-to-four-month time frame, not 12 months."
Few of the support businesses will need to be "right outside" GlobalFoundries' door, he added. Already, the permitting process is beginning to pick up along the Route 9 corridor toward Stillwater.
Len Fosbrook, president of the Warren County EDC, said the Queensbury business park by the Warren County Airport has eight shovel-ready sites. The EDC has also applied for a grant to pre-permit a 20,000-square-foot spec building that will be ready to go should the demand arise.
In addition, the agency is working with the city of Glens Falls to outfit its Tech Meadows industrial park.
Fosbrook is marketing all of the available sites on USB flash drives, which he has distributed to real estate developers and businesses. No interest has come yet from firms tied to GlobalFoundries, but he expects activity to pick up in a year or two.
Already, M+W U.S. has moved its own headquarters from Texas to the Albany area, where it had a regional office.
Whitney said the decision to relocate had to do not only with GlobalFoundries and work the company expects to do there for many years, but with the concentration of equipment and semiconductor manufacturers in the Capital Region. He cited projects by GE, IBM, and the SUNY College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering.
"Nothing would give us that level of visibility anywhere else in the country," he said.
The move is expected to increase the M+W headquarters staff from about 70 to 250 by the end of the year. The job count is already nearing 200, Whitney said.
At the GlobalFoundries construction site, there are about 120 managers and 700 workers. Those numbers will continue to rise into next year, peaking at about 200 and 1,200, respectively.
Whitney said a fairly significant contracting community will remain on the site even after the bulk of the work is done.
The plant is expected to be finished in late 2011 and operational by late 2012. GlobalFoundries is considering an expansion, however, for which it received approval from the Malta Planning Board earlier this week.
On Sunday, GlobalFoundries and M+W U.S. will host an open house at the construction site from 1 to 4 p.m. The event is open to the public and will include tours, weather permitting.
