1) IBM does its research lab acvitivies at Albany nanotech, correct? which is owned by the state and leased space to IBM? IBM does not own it?
I believe IBM does most its semiconductor manufacturing research at Albany Nanotech Complex (ANTC), probably with less than 1000 researchers and technicians.
"The Albany NanoTech Complex is owned and operated by NY CREATES (New York Center for Research, Economic Advancement, Technology, Engineering and Science). NY CREATES is a state-backed, non-profit organization established by New York State to streamline the management, funding, and operations of the state's high-tech semiconductor assets."
2) tool are provided by other partners there for research, Does the state own those tools or does ASML etc.
New York State and federal grants paid for the facility, the cleanroom, and some of the expensive tools (such as EUV tools). IBM rents the space from ANTC and shares certain high cost tools (including the EUV systems, which are also owned by ANTC) with other tenants.
3) Does IBM get paid to be there or pay to use the site? does Intel or Micron or samsung use this site?
It’s complicated. But for profit driven companies (such as Micron and IBM) the costs are ultimately paid by Micron and IBM’s customers (such as Rapidus) and by taxpayers.
Here is a summary created by Google AI:
Yes, IBM pays rent and operational fees to utilize the facilities at the Albany NanoTech Complex (ANTC), but their usage of advanced tools like EUV machines is governed by a shared-cost partnership rather than simple pay-per-use renting.
Because the facility operates under a unique public-private model, IBM's financial arrangement with
NY CREATES (the complex's owner) is divided into distinct categories:
1. Direct Office and Laboratory Rent
IBM must pay standard commercial rent for the physical real estate it occupies on the ANTC campus. This is approved via fixed-term leases by the NY CREATES board: [
1,
2]
- Office & Lab Space: As a primary tenant, IBM leases extensive square footage across multiple buildings (including the ZEN and NanoFab Reflection buildings).
- Cost Structure: Lease agreements dictate specific square-footage costs, such as roughly $45 per square foot for office space and $94 per square foot for cleanroom laboratory spaces, which include operating expenses and utility pass-throughs.
- Expansion: For instance, IBM pays roughly $930,000 annually just to lease an extra 50,000-square-foot tier of cleanrooms and engineering environments to support its scaling operations. [1, 2]
2. Tool Access: "Buy-In" Partnerships (Not Tool Rental)
IBM does not pay a conventional "hourly fee" or standard rental price to use a machine like an ASML High-NA EUV lithography tool. Instead, tool access is granted through joint-venture capital investments:
- Consortium Funding: To gain access to the newly established High-NA EUV Center, IBM, Micron, and other tech titans entered a $10 billion joint initiative with New York State. Industry players collectively contributed $9 billion toward procuring the machinery and building out the infrastructure.
- Shared Operating Costs: Rather than individual equipment usage bills, IBM pays an ongoing share of the facility’s broader consortium operational costs. This covers specialized engineering staff, extreme cleanroom power grids, tool calibrations, and the massive amounts of chemical consumables required to keep the machines running.
3. Joint Development Agreements (JDAs)
Because ANTC is an open-innovation ecosystem, IBM frequently offsets tool costs by signing cross-collaborative agreements with tool manufacturers on-site:
- IBM works hand-in-hand with tool giants like Tokyo Electron (TEL), SCREEN Semiconductor, and Lam Research directly inside the Albany cleanrooms.
- Under these agreements, the tool makers provide the hardware and technical support, while IBM provides the structural chip designs and operational expertise. The entities share both the costs of running the machinery and the patents generated from the research.
Summary
IBM pays fixed real estate rent to NY CREATES to house its hundreds of scientists on campus, but its right to use multi-million-dollar EUV machinery is secured by billion-dollar upfront capital contributions and collaborative R&D pool funding rather than a retail machine-rental fee.
Who pays IBM for IBM process research? not GF or Intel..... Do they have any partners other than Rapidus? or is it just government grants
Because IBM no longer has a fab, the majority of its new process research is funded by US taxpayers (you and me) and by Japanese taxpayers through the Rapidus project. So far, the only client for IBM’s leading edge semiconductor manufacturing technology developed at the Albany Nanotech Complex is Rapidus in Japan.
So the funny thing is that American taxpayer money is effectively helping Japan rebuild its leading edge logic semiconductor manufacturing capacity. Intel, TSMC, Samsung, and GlobalFoundries (all have US based fabs) either don’t want to use IBM’s technologies or have no need for them.
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