IBM expected to announce expansion plans at the University of Albany

The state's top leaders will attend a press conference July 15 to announce an expected expansion of IBM Corp.'s presence in the Albany, N.Y., region and at the University at Albany.

The 10 a.m. announcement will be made at University at Albany's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering.

Gov. David Paterson, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver are scheduled to speak at the event.

A spokeswoman for state Sen. Joseph Bruno confirmed that the event involves IBM (NYSE: IBM), which the state has been negotiating with for months.

The state has been seeking to expand IBM's presence in the region in a deal that could trade tax credits and state incentives for hundreds of new jobs.

An IBM spokesman declined to comment.

IBM is one of at least 16 companies involed in Sematech Inc., an Austin, Texas, consortium of manufacturers that make computer microchips.

A subsidiary of that company, called International Sematech, is in the process of moving its headquarters to Albany. International Sematech is also adding 450 jobs, in addition to the 250 employees currently working on UAlbany's campus.

The company has had a research operation at UAlbany since 2002.

The Business Review (Albany) - by Adam Sichko