By Mark Lapedus and David Lammers

The State of New York is hoping that the Global 450 Consortium (G450C) announced last week will result in 450mm fabs being built in New York and more equipment purchased from vendors operating in the Empire State.

A 2010 “450.doc” proposal that circulated among New York’s politicians was designed to gain their support for the G450C effort, including additional state funding for the SUNY University of Albany College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE), where the G450 consortium will build a 450mm demonstration line expected to go into operation in early 2013.

The 2010 proposal outlines a second phase, to be negotiated in 2013, in which the five members of the consortium – IBM, Intel, GlobalFoundries, TSMC and Samsung – would be encouraged to build a 450mm fab in New York at some point in the future.

“The Phase II agreement will contain provisions that if any Consortium member determines, directly or indirectly, to build a 450 plant anywhere in the world that at least one such 450 facility would be built at an appropriate site in NYS (New York State) reasonably acceptable to NYS and such consortium partner,” according to the proposal.

“The commitment of the consortium partners in Phase II would be subject to NYS continued investment but the consortium agrees that in light of the cluster value provided by NYS that the amount of such support as a percentage of the total project cost would be lower than that provided by NYS in prior transactions,’’ according to the document.

It is not known how much of the language in the “450.doc” proposal ended up in the final agreement. CNSE, Sematech, and the five chip makers will form the board of directors for the G450C effort.

The proposed Phase II part of the plan also includes a “Made in New York” initiative, which would call for the procurement of fab tools exclusively from “manufacturers located’’ in New York and “existing New York State vendors,” according to the proposal. Phase II would result in additional funding for the 450mm consortium and “the creation of a significant number of additional jobs’’ in New York, according to the document, a copy of which was obtained by SemiMD.

Of the five members — Intel, IBM, GlobalFoundries, TSMC and Samsung – only Intel and TSMC have separately announced “450mm-ready” fabs in various other locations. Intel has announced two 450mm-ready plants, including D1X in Oregon and Fab 42 in Arizona. TSMC plans to build a 450mm pilot line in Fab 12 in Hsinchu, Taiwan by 2013 or 2014. By 2015 or 2016 TSMC hopes to ramp a 450-mm production plant: Fab 15 in Taichung, Taiwan. The foundry’s management has recently expressed doubts that it can stay on that schedule.

IBM, GlobalFoundries and Samsung have not disclosed any 450mm fab plans.

Bob Bruck, vice president of Intel’s technology and manufacturing group, said Intel is not under any obligation to build a 450mm fab in New York or anywhere else. He praised New York’s effort to develop a chip manufacturing infrastructure in the state, including the CNSE Albany Nanotech Center, mentioning the names of the governor and others as active supporters of New York’s technology infrastructure.

However, Bruck said that Intel would follow its normal site selection process for any decision on a new fab site, 450mm or otherwise. “Whenever we plan to build a new fab we look on a global basis, and have a well-defined site selection process. That process has not changed” following announcement of the 450mm consortium, he said.

The five chip makers are expected to contribute at least $75 million each in the project over the next five years, according to the Business Review news site based in New York. Bruck called that level of investment a “starting point.”

In addition, IBM plans to invest $3.6 billion in its ongoing transistor development alliance and related packaging R&D, which will be directed to Albany Nanotech and other state facilities, according to a report from Albany-based Times Tribune newspaper. Much of that investment is already committed by the companies to support the ongoing efforts by IBM, GlobalFoundries, and Samsung Electronics (not including Intel or TSMC) to develop 22nm and 14nm technology, independent of the work on the 450mm wafer transition.

CSNE in Albany, N.Y. will serve as the headquarters for the 450mm consortium, and a spokesman for CSNE said each consortium member will provide employees and assignees to the group.

Fab construction firm M+W has been building a $300 million research center at the CNSE at the University at Albany, which will be the centerpiece of the Global 450 Consortium, according to the CNSE spokesman. That center, called the NanoFab West or NanoFab X building, is designed to handle 450-mm equipment, including the heavy EUV lithography tools.

Some $250 million for the center will come from the Empire State Development Corp., $100 million from the New York Power Authority, and $50 million from capital projects fund, according to the Times Tribune, citing Josh Vlasto, a spokesman for Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as its source.

According to the report, CNSE President Alain Kaloyeros said the center would install between $2 billion and $2.5 billion worth of fab tools. The first tools will be installed by September 2012. The facility will be completed by the first quarter of 2013, according to the report, citing  Kaloyeros as its source.

Tags: 450mm wafers, CNSE, Global 450 Consortium, GlobalFoundries, Intel, semiconductor manufacturing, TSMC

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