I wanted to share with you the following article that was published by the Times Union:

Times Union: Bids due to build $135M chip lab

SUNY Poly, GE advance on silicon carbide project

Albany

SUNY Polytechnic Institute is moving quickly to build a $135 million silicon-carbide chip manufacturing laboratory that it announced over the summer.

SUNY Poly, formerly known as the SUNY College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, made plans for the new lab — which will go into an existing building — available earlier this week to architects and construction firms interested in trying to win the project. Bids are due by Nov. 7.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced in July that General Electric Co. was going to partner with SUNY Poly on what's being called the New York Power Electronics Manufacturing Consortium, or NY-PEMC.

The group's aim is to develop ways to mass produce power electronics chips that use silicon carbide material instead of silicon. Harder and more durable than silicon, silicon carbide can drastically reduce the size of electronics components in cars, airplanes, wind turbines and transportation and energy technologies. However, the material has never been put into mass production, and the SUNY Poly lab will include equipment that will process 6-inch silicon carbide wafers, one of the first of its kind.

GE has been working for years with silicon carbide technology at its research lab in Niskayuna. But it has only been processing 4-inch wafers and believes that it can more quickly get the technology to market by having SUNY Poly set up its own silicon carbide manufacturing line and bringing in research partners to help speed up the process. The state believes it can attract more than $300 million in corporate investment in the project over the next five years.

"By partnering, we are bringing breakthrough reliable technology to market faster and at lower cost so our customers and global industries see major productivity gains and operate at peak efficiency," GE CEO Jeff Immelt said in July when the consortium was announced.

A GE spokesman said that while GE will be working with SUNY Poly on setting up the manufacturing line, SUNY Poly is in charge of the design and construction of the 15,000-square-foot clean-room lab that will house it.

SUNY Poly spokesman Jerry Gretzinger said the project involves renovating an existing clean room inside what's known as the NanoFab South building.

lrulison@timesunion.com • 518-454-5504 • @larryrulison