A decade ago, it was 200 acres of pine trees near Saratoga Lake. A decade from now, it could be the booming heart of a new high-tech corridor, filled with some of the most sophisticated labs and plants in the country.
After years of haggling and setbacks, officials finally broke ground Friday on a $4.2 billion plant that will manufacture advanced microprocessors and would be the most advanced facility of its kind in the world. The plant, to be built on a 222-acre site, will be bigger than the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan.
Elected officials are counting on the expected completion of the factory in 2011 to provide a major boost to the ailing upstate region, where for years they have promised, and mostly failed, to deliver an economic resurgence.
The plant, which will manufacture chips for California-based Advanced Micro Devices and other chip design firms, will generate 1,400 new manufacturing jobs, officials say.
With the new factory as an anchor, they say, they can attract more investment to the area, building a cluster of businesses and academic centers that could ultimately rival Route 128 outside of Boston or North Carolina’s Research Triangle.
“You’ve got everything in place here to make the whole upstate region a leader in chip fab manufacture and high technology generally,” said Charles V. Wait, president of Adirondack Trust Corporation, a bank that helped finance early efforts to bring tech companies to the area. “When I grew up, you couldn’t find a job here in Saratoga, and everyone left after college.”
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