1/24/2013 8:28:25 AM

Times Union: NanoCollege moves up

Times Union

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ALBANY — The next thing you know, Albany NanoTech is going to build its own computer chip factory.

The University at Albany's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, which runs the $14 billion high-tech campus devoted to advances in semiconductor manufacturing, is joining IBM's research alliance, which includes GlobalFoundries, Samsung and others.

The deal is significant since it essentially puts the NanoCollege on equal footing with many of the major chip companies.

In the past, the NanoCollege has hosted IBM's research activities at Albany NanoTech, and its scientists have been invited to participate in select projects. Like all of the members of the IBM consortium, however, scientists at the NanoCollege will now be fully involved in the process, and the college will have rights to the discoveries — which can be extremely valuable. The other IBM alliance members are STMicroelectronics and Renesas.

For all intents and purposes, one could say the school will become the first university-based pre-commercial computer chip company.

"We have become equal partners with them," said Alain Kaloyeros, CEO of the NanoCollege. "This is certainly going to lead to significant intellectual property that no other university would ever have access to."

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