New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced this week that the State will be partnering with over 100 companies, led by GE, in order to launch what will be known as the New York Power Electronics Manufacturing Consortium.

The Consortium, which is a public-private partnership, plans on investing over $500 million in high-paying, high-skill jobs throughout the state. Over 500 of these jobs will be in the Capital region. The investments will take place over the next five years, and they will focus on developing and manufacturing the next generation of semiconductor materials.

The semiconductor materials will be developed in the State-owned R&D facility, which is in Albany as part of the SUNY College of Nanoscale Science. These semiconductors use silicon carbide wafers, which allow devices to perform more efficiently and more quickly.

Silicon carbide wafers have multiple advantages over silicon, including handling higher frequencies and temperatures, which helps to drive down both the cost and size of their companions cooling systems. For this reason, silicon will be phased out, and NY is hoping to be at the helm of new silicon carbide wafer creation.

“This partnership will create thousands of new jobs in Upstate New York, tapping into our highly trained workforce and existing centers of high tech research and development,” said Cuomo. The partnership can occur thanks to the START-UP NY tax free initiative, as well as funding provided by New York State so that NY-PEMC facilities can be established. This will pave the way for a further $365 million in private funds.

Dr. Alain Kaloyeros is part of the consortium through her position as CEO of SUNY CNSE, and has said that, “Power electronics is one of the fastest growing global markets and New York is now poised to lead the way in their continued refinement.”

Commenting further on the industry’s potential, she has said that, “Partnering CNSE’s world-class research and development resources with the combined expertise of our corporate and university partners will provide tremendous advances for the business, technology and academic communities.” She applauds Cuomo’s decision to focus on future investment in developing the State as a high tech hospitable state.