IBM's 1997 decision to locate its US$700 million computer chip plant in East Fishkill, N.Y., was a defining moment for Dutchess County and the state of New York. Not only did this announcement represent the single-largest industrial investment in the state's history, but it also served as a stepping stone for Gov. George Pataki's latest pro-business initiative -- SEMI-NY (www.semi-ny.com), a $50 million economic development and marketing program established to attract the semiconductor industry.

Immediately following the IBM announcement, Gov. Pataki pledged $10 million to the State of New York University (SUNY) at Albany to build a new facility to house a pilot manufacturing line for the new 300mm, 12-inch semiconductor wafer. In addition, the governor and legislative leaders also pledged another $25 million to a consortium of New York's leading universities in an effort to win a Focus Research Center designation by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

The state's commitment to support the proposed Focus Research Center was successful. In August 1998, SIA and DARPA named SUNY at Albany and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), also in Albany, as one of two consortiums of major universities nationally to participate in the semiconductor industry Focus Center program. The Focus Center at New York, with headquarters at SUNY at Albany's Center for Environmental Sciences and Technology Management (CES-TM), also includes New York's Cornell University and SUNY at Stony Brook.

"Similar designations were given in the Austin, Texas, area back in the '80s, and that led to semiconductor manufacturing down there," says Kevin O'Conner, president of the Center for Economic Growth, Albany. "Some 20,000 new jobs were added when semiconductor firms Intel and Motorola located down there. We're trying to leverage that same type of activity."

Gov. Pataki then launched the main component of SEMI-NY, the Chip Fab '98 initiative, to pre-qualify and pre-permit a number of sites that would be most attractive to the semiconductor manufacturing industry. Empire State Development (ESD) and the Governor's Office of Regulatory Reform (GORR) retained Industrial Design Corp. (IDC), a leading design and construction firm for the semiconductor industry, to identify the strict location criteria and select the most suitable sites.

After receiving 75 applications from across the state, ESD and IDC narrowed the selection to 13 sites. Some of the major location criteria included 200 or more acres (81 or more hectares) of available land, plenty of water (3 million gallons -- 11.4 million liters -- per day), two power sources, sewer services and access to academic and vocational resources.

Under this initiative, ESD will match funds up to $50,000 each with the 13 communities to prepare permit applications, site plans and environmental reviews. GORR will provide permit assistance to the communities and, once a chip manufacturer commits to build in the state, it will transfer the permits to the company.