Upstate New York to House CHIPS for America EUV Accelerator Complex

NY CREATES’ Albany NanoTech Complex is the expected location for the CHIPS for America EUV Accelerator, the first of three National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) facilities. The designation will be supported by an estimated $825 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce and is expected to garner significant investment in EUV lithography R&D under the CHIPS and Science Act.

The EUV Accelerator will serve as a focal point for advanced semiconductor R&D initiatives and support programs to bolster the necessary workforce. Research at the facility will focus on innovation in semiconductor technologies with the aim of supporting the U.S. domestic supply chain and the development of next-generation chips.

The selection of the site follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding between NY CREATES and Natcast, a nonprofit entity established through the CHIPS and Science Act to operate the NSTC consortium. The EUV Accelerator will be accessible to NSTC members and Natcast researchers who will be able to leverage more than $25 billion in public-private investments that have been made since the site’s inception, including access to standard numerical aperture (NA) EUV lithography by next year, and access to high NA EUV lithography by 2026.

The Albany NanoTech Complex is a publicly-owned and accessible 300 mm semiconductor R&D facility. It received a $10 billion investment last year to support the acquisition of high NA EUV lithography equipment and the construction of a 50,000 sq ft facility. The facility’s construction is currently underway.

The high NA EUV lithography tool, built by ASML, supports the creation of chips with 7 and 5 nm channels, and has the potential to produce chips with nodes smaller than 2 nm, a barrier broken by IBM, a partner and investor to the NanoTech Complex, in 2021.

Over the last two years, chip companies have announced more than $112 billion in planned capital investments in New York, including planned expansions from companies including Micron, GlobalFoundries, AMD, Edwards Vacuum, Menlo Micro, and TTM Technologies.