Sep 19, 2006

Some alarm bells on AMD

This week's series of feature stories on Advanced Micro Devices in the Times Union has raised some eyebrows.

Although the pieces are not particularly enlightening -- just more examples of trying to draw parallels between Albany and Austin --- it's the Luther Forest references that draw one's attention.

Characterizing the incentive agreement whereby AMD builds a fab locally as "nonbinding" and explaining "when, and ultimately if, the Luther Forest chip fab is built depends on a number of factors," one gets the impressionn that maybe this deal wasn't really as close to being of the "done" variety as we were being told. I'm not sure if this was the reporter's intention or not, but he has succeeded in ringing some alarm bells in the Capital Region.

If this deal were to fall apart and the Luther Forest plant never materializes, it will be interesting to watch the scurrying and finger pointing taking place on this one.

But let's hope it never gets to that point: whether you were a supporter or an opponent of this project, such a scenario would not do anyone any good around here.

NOTE: We will be publishing an in-depth "economic effect" analysis on the AMD project in the next few weeks.

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