If the permits are approved by the towns of Malta and Stillwater, GlobalFoundries’ total investment in the region could jump from 4.6 billion to $6.9 billion.
GlobalFoundries is looking to bring in additional manufacturing equipment and expand and upgrade electric, gas and drainage utilities to ramp up production at the site.
“We’ve submitted the site plan to Malta to build out the shell, which is a part of the Fab 8 module 1 site,” said Jessica Kerley, communications specialist with GlobalFoundries. “Right now that facility is mostly an empty shell. So with this expansion, we open up the option to fit it with more equipment to support manufacturing needs.”
GlobalFoundries is hoping the permits will be approved before the month’s end.
Approximately 1,400 employees are currently on-site as they begin to transition from the construction stage to the operation stage. The semi-conductor manufacturer is looking to hire another 400 employees in anticipation of full-scale production. With the announcement of their $2 billion investment, “we’re estimating an additional 200 to 300 more jobs to support the expansion,” said Kerley.
“GlobalFoundries did submit the site plan for really expanding and improving the infrastructure,” said Anthony Tozzi, building and planning director for the town of Malta. “It’s a direct result of their decision to utilize the portion of the fab that they constructed for future expansion for clean room facilities. They’ve pulled the trigger and made the decision to use that.”
While considering the proposal, the town of Malta planning department will review changes to the site including, “expanded parking, rearrangement of some storm water infrastructure that they need to redesign, the expansion of some of their utility buildings, expansion of some utility lines and changes to some of the gas facilities,” said Tozzi. Malta’s planning board will officially review the permits at their July 17 meeting. The board has an additional meeting scheduled for July 24 due to a busy schedule this month.
“GlobalFoundries is just a wonderful addition to our tax base and to our county. It provides great jobs for our kids that are getting out of college and great jobs for our workers. It’s a fantastic industry for us to have,” said Malta Supervisor Paul Sausville. “It’s the right kind of growth.”
If approved, hundreds of new construction jobs will also be created to finish development on the Fab 8 module 1 shell.