The state is building a next-generation semiconductor facility in Greece that'll be shared by approximately 100 tech companies. Officials say the facility should create at least 500 jobs in Rochester. 

The facility will be located at the SUNY College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering Rochester Facility building in the Canal Landing Office Park in Greece. The state and college are constructing clean rooms in the building, which will also house a previously announced solar cell research facility.

Governor Andrew Cuomo and college CEO Alain Kaloyeros announced the project this morning at the Canal Landing building. 

Kaloyeros said the project is the second part of the New York Power Electronics Manufacturing Consortium, which state officials announced yesterday at a General Electric facility in Niskayuna in Schenectady County. The idea is to advance the development and manufacturing of next-generation computer chips in New York, he said. 

The consortium entails a $500-million investment in state-owned semiconductor research and development facilities, which the companies will be able to use. The state government is putting up $135 million of that funding, Cuomo said, and the rest is coming from private investment 

The Rochester facility will focus on gallium nitride semiconductor technology, Cuomo said. And Kaloyeros said that the facility will include a 200 millimeter wafer fabrication line. The state will partner with the tech companies via SEMATECH, a semiconductor industry umbrella association, which is moving from Texas to New York. Its members include General Electric, IBM, Global Foundries, Samsung, and Intel.

"This is really the future of computer technology," Kaloyeros said.

Cuomo says the approach to the Rochester facility, and to other state nanotech facilities across New York, uses the same model that developed a thriving industry in the capital region.