Malta Development Blog

The recent announcement that GlobalFoundries has acquired IBM’s global commercial semiconductor technology business makes the company the holder of one of the largest semiconductor patent portfolios in the world. The purchase is an additional investment of $1.5 billion in semiconductor technology. This agreement also means that GlobalFoundries becomes IBM’s exclusive server processor provider for the next ten years. The Times Union called it one of the largest business deals in our region's history.

Recent and expected 2015 capital expenditures of $10 billion will mean that investment in Malta's Luther Forest Technology Campus plant, known as Fab 8, continues to grow and produce jobs -- 3,000 jobs so far and counting. It has been reported that GF has new orders from Qualcomm and Apple for 14-nanometer processors to be produced this year and next in Malta.

The new IBM acquisition adds manufacturing operations in East Fishkill NY and Essex Junction VT to GlobalFoundries holdings, increasing GF's regional payroll by 5,000, to make it the largest semiconductor technology manufacturing employer in the Northeast.

In September 2014, GlobalFoundries applied to the Town of Malta for a rezoning of its 1,440 acre site to allow support businesses to operate within the Campus. This is the first in a series of steps which will fuel further economic growth in the area. In August, the Saratoga Economic Development Corporation calculated that GlobalFoundries' annual payroll of $206.1 million now produces $13.3 million in state taxes. Property taxes paid to area towns and school districts tallied $13.7 million.

A November 2014 public meeting was held to present a $500,000 traffic study that could determine if a new exit off the I-87 Northway is needed to handle traffic growth related to GlobalFoundries' expansion. The 18-month study will focus on the corridor between exits 10 and 13. Exit 11 leads to Round Lake, Malta and Ballston Lake; exit 12 heads to Ballston Spa and Malta.