The Capital Region stands a strong chance to be selected as the National Semiconductor Technology Center, or the nation's first hub to direct the U.S. manufacturing of microchips that power cell phones, automobiles and other devices, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday. 

Federal officials will determine a location to establish the National Semiconductor Technology Center, which would serve as the cornerstone of the national $11 billion program to develop and advance semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S.

Schumer on Tuesday said the Capital Region crests the top of the list of potential locations for the center. A new $1.5 billion federal grant secured by GlobalFoundries, a major semiconductor company in Saratoga County, places the area in a better position to be selected.

"And we are at the very top of the list," Schumer said of the region Tuesday at GlobalFoundries' facility in Malta. "I'm going to do everything I can [and] using my power as majority leader to see that we get both the one-two punch of GlobalFoundries and the National Semiconductor Technology Center, which is going to be the most amazing thing around."

The center will oversee high-end research for the next generation of semiconductor microchips to be used worldwide. The senator said the Capital Region is an ideal location because of nearby colleges and universities like Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, State University of New York campuses and other institutions of higher learning involved in semiconductor research.

State and federal officials visited GlobalFoundries on Tuesday to celebrate the $1.5 billion grant, which will be used to expand its Fab 8 semiconductor site and build a new 358,000-square foot facility.

The company estimates the expansion will triple its production and will make more than 1 million chips annually after completion.

"This industry is really the future for just about everything — everything is going to need these chips," Schumer said. 

GlobalFoundries CEO Thomas Caulfield would not estimate when the company would break ground on the new site, but said the timeline will take shape as demand for chip production grows in the U.S.

"The monumental announcement further cements New York state's position as a global leader in semiconductor manufacturing and the center for a more resilient industry for our nation," Caulfield said.

The expansion is expected to create 1,500 manufacturing jobs and several thousand union construction jobs.

The company will invest $11.6 billion over the next decade by bringing more capacity to the existing facility as well as the planned construction project. 

The $1.5 billion award marks the largest in the nation to date from the $52 billion CHIPS & Science Act President Joe Biden signed into law in 2022.

"Last December I stood at Albany Nanotech... alongside Major Leader Schumer and Senator Gillibrand, and I said as clear as I could, 'New York State is setting the path for the future of the rest of the nation,' and that was not an overstatement at all especially in light of what we're doing here today," Hochul said. "We have turned the corner. We are seizing the future right here in the state of New York."

A shortage of the semiconductor chips during the COVID-19 pandemic stopped production of new cars, drove up prices and revealed U.S. reliance on foreign sources.

Schumer sponsored the CHIPS & Science Act to supercharge the industry and make the U.S. more competitive.

Improved domestic chip production will bolster U.S. defense — particularly with Russia's ongoing invasion of the Ukraine and growing conflict overseas between China and Taiwan.

"Taiwan is where so many of the chips are made and China is where so many of the chips are made," Schumer said. "If they could cut that off, they could cause a recession in America immediately. We cannot let that happen."

The grant comes on the heels of a $100 billion investment by Micron Technology to expand chip production in Syracuse and $20 billion invested by IBM in Poughkeepsie in the industry in 2022.

"This is the future for the Capital Region, this is the future for upstate New York — this is the future for America," Schumer said. "No, we're not making these things overseas anymore. We're not going to let foreign countries hold us hostage. Today we say to the world: The future of the technology will be built int he Capital Region, not China."