State officials say the seven-year agreement calls forInternational Sematech to locate its headquarters in Albany,increase its work force by 450 jobs over three years, and provide$25 million to fund research at colleges and universities at fivecenters around the state.

Sptizer, Silver and Bruno report that they will push for thepassage of a soon-to-be introduced bill that would provide $300million in state funding to Sematech to facilitate the expansion.The funding will be made available over five years to help the firmpurchase advanced semiconductor process equipment. In turn,Sematech has made a financial commitment of $300 million in cashand in-kind contributions in connection with the expansion effort.The project will support new research at the Nanotech Center inAlbany and serve as an additional resource supporting existingoperations of Sematech members in the Hudson Valley and the CapitalRegion, state officials say.

To allay any confusion regarding its operations in Austin,Sematech later issued a statement that while it is significantlyexpanding its presence in New York, the company's corporate officesand operations in Texas, including its advanced materials programsand some subsidiaries, will remain in Austin.