GlobalFoundries plans new building on Malta tech campus site

PHOTOGRAPHER: David Lombardo

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GlobalFoundries has announced plans for a new administrative building at its Fab 8 campus in Malta.

The proposed 221,000-square-foot project will be revealed in greater detail on Monday afternoon, when U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer tours the site.

GlobalFoundries, which submitted their plans to the Malta Planning Board, hopes to break ground in May, with a completion date of August 2012. Designed with a mix of cubicles, office spaces and conference rooms, the initial plan is for the building to operate at 30 percent capacity with about 450 employees. The rest of the building could be equipped to handle additional workers as needed. It will have the potential for 1,500 new jobs.

According to a news release from the company, the decision to construct a second administrative building is the result of expanded needs from the Fab 8 project. The company added that the move will give the company flexibility in the future, but it did not allude to any shifts in the company’s direction or headquarters, which is in California.

The $4.6 billion Fab 8 project currently under construction employs about 1,400 workers. The original plans for the site included this proposed second administrative building and no changes have been added to the current proposal, which consists of a three-story L-shaped building that will be next to the existing Fab 8 facilities under construction.

The company already had zoning approvals from Malta and Stillwater to build up to three semiconductor plants at the Luther Forest site.

“We are committed to this region for the long term and have expanded the original scope of the Fab 8 project over time,” the company stated in the release. “By continuing to expand our investment in the project, GlobalFoundries is having a major positive impact on the local economy — helping to develop ‘Tech Valley’ as a premier hub of the global semiconductor industry, creating thousands of new technology-based jobs and contributing billions of dollars to the regional economy.”

The Fab 8 project broke ground in 2009 and is about three-quarters complete. The company plans to start test production in 2012 and commercial production in early 2013. The total number of workers on the site will likely rise to about 2,000 in the spring as machinery installation contractors augment the basic construction crews.

GlobalFoundries hopes the new building will achieve a Gold LEED certification, which is a rating of a building’s environmental impact. They’re planning on partnerships with IDC Architects and LeChase Construction on the design, with LeChase serving as the general manager of the project.

The new proposal comes on the heels of news that the Abu Dhabi government’s Advanced Technology Investment Company, which owns most of GlobalFoundries, has been acquired by Mubadala Development Co., another company run by the Abu Dhabi government. Mubadala officials said the change in leadership would not impact day-to-day operations of GlobalFoundries.

Going forward, GlobalFoundries said it would be working closely with Malta on the review and approval of its application.