| ALBANY -- The wait is over.
GlobalFoundries Inc. said Tuesday morning that earth movers will begin arriving at Luther Forest Technology Campus in Malta on Monday to begin work on its $4.2 billion computer chip factory.
The Capital Region has been waiting three years for the announcement, which sets in motion a likely two-year construction boom for Saratoga County.
M+W Zander, the general contractor for the project, is set to reveal today the first of more than 100 contracts that will be awarded, most at guaranteed union wages.
The 1.3 million-square-foot building will cost $800 million and require 1,600 laborers. The factory is expected to become fully operational by 2012 and employ up to 1,400 people at full capacity.
On Tuesday afternoon, Doug Grose, the chief executive officer of GlobalFoundries, attended an economic forum hosted by Gov. David Paterson at the University at Albany's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering.
The meeting, which included 20 local business leaders, was well-timed. It was nearly three years ago that former Gov. George Pataki announced in the same NanoCollege building that the state was providing $1.2 billion in incentives to land the chip fab.
Back then, the project was envisioned by Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD has since spun off its manufacturing operations to GlobalFoundries.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you," NanoCollege CEO Alain Kaloyeros told Grose at the beginning of the forum.
"Today it's exciting for us," Grose said. "But what brings us here is people."
GlobalFoundries sealed its fate with the state by sending an official commitment letter to Empire State Development Corp. on Tuesday that will make it eligible for $650 million in grant money. The company was facing a July 31 deadline.
Now ESDC has 90 days to issue bonds or come up with the cash so it can begin reimbursing GlobalFoundries as it incurs its costs for the chip fab.
GlobalFoundries spokesman Travis Bullard said the company has already spent between $10 million and $15 million on design and project work.
"We are still working on the timeline for exact disbursement," said ESDC spokeswoman Katie Krawczyk.
GlobalFoundries and Luther Forest Technology Campus Economic Development Corp. are scheduled to close today in Malta on the purchase of 223 acres at the business park, an old logging forest that was also used for rocket testing by the military.
Rick Whitney, the CEO of M+W Zander's U.S. operations, was also at Tuesday's economic forum. After the meeting, he declined to reveal the name of the company being awarded the first contract to begin clearing land at the GlobalFoundries site. The contract will be worth between $10 million and $20 million.
Larry Rulison can be reached at 454-5504 or by e-mail at lrulison@timesunion.com. | 
