The Computer Chip Hybrid Integration Partnership (CHIP), announced in July 2009 by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, joined by Gov. David A. Paterson and Assemblywoman RoAnn M. Destito, is a high-tech venture between SUNY Institute of Technology SUNYIT and CNSE. This cross-regional partnership is developing the region's physical and intellectual ability, resulting in a state-of-the-art high-tech business incubator/technology accelerator at SUNYIT.

This joint partnership supports the attraction and retention of small and medium size nanotechnology companies in the Utica-Rome area and provides the necessary infrastructure to enable innovation, education and commercialization of computer chip solutions in upstate New York. The project is expected to create as many as 475 supplier and contractor jobs in the Mohawk Valley and expand the nanotechnology industry throughout upstate New York.

The CHIP venture also established the Computer Chip R&D Integration Center (CCIC) at CNSE. The center partners with leading chip firms including IBM and SEMATECH to concentrate on research and development of "system on a chip" (SOC) technologies in which components of a computer or electronic system are contained on a single computer chip. 

Additionally, the enterprise created the Computer Chip Commercialization Center (CCCC), at SUNYIT for the assembly and integration of SOC systems developed at CCIC. The commercialization center includes a state-of-the art "cleanroom", which removes impurities from the air and allows for the integration of SOC. The center acts as a business incubator to attract chip suppliers and contractors at SUNYIT, including the first ever SEMATECH Center in upstate New York.

The project was funded with $92.5 million in capital funds from the NYS budget, as well as a combined capital investment of $133.5 million from the internationally renowned firms IBM, SEMATECH and Intel. The partnership also creates a joint educational and training curriculum between the SUNYIT School of Information Systems and Engineering Technology and CNSE that prepares workers for careers in computer chip integration and deployment. The CHIP establishes an inter-regional, cross-university structure for promoting the nanoelectronics industry.

Read the press release on the announcement of the creation of CHIP.