Construction on the GlobalFoundries factory in Saratoga, New York, has reached a milestone with completion of steelwork and precast concrete erection. Construction on the $4.2 billion project first began in June 2009.

Occupying more than 220 acres of the Luther Forest Technology Campus in Saratoga, New York, the new Fab 8, Module 1 facility is one of the largest computer chip factories in the world. Construction on Module 1, which consists of a water fabrication building, a technical support building, an administrative office building and a central utility building totaling more than 1.45 million sq ft is currently underway and is being managed by M& W U.S. of Plano, Texas under a $650 million design and build turnkey contract. Bay Crane of Long Island City, New York performed the steel and concrete erection as well as lift planning, supervision and execution.

Module 1, the first of three potential semiconductor manufacturing facilities proposed for the campus, also includes several service yards and small support buildings and is striving to achieve LEED Gold certification.

Construction on the facility is expected to take two years to complete and an additional 12 to18 months to be fully operational. Microchip production is expected to begin in 2012.