Sili-Hudson Valley?

guttentag writes "The New York Times reports Sematech (the international consortium of computer chip makers that turned Austin, TX into a tech center) plans to turn Albany, NY into a research hub. The consortium, which represents IBM, Intel, Motorola, HP, TI, AMD, Philips and others, will put up $193 million for the project while New York State will supply the remaining $210 million. The really unusual thing about the deal is that the state isn't offering any tax breaks or loans to lure the consortium to its capital. Why are they so excited about a location that is over 100 miles from their nearest constituent company (IBM)?"

Comments

Escape from Silicon Valley

[Skyshadow]

Affordible housing, jobs, stability, light traffic, companies with reasonable hours, good schools... All the same things that we in the Silicon Valley have to offer...

(pauses, frowns)

Re:Escape from Silicon Valley

[Jucius Maximus]

"Affordible housing, jobs, stability, light traffic, companies with reasonable hours, good schools... All the same things that we in the Silicon Valley have to offer... "

Big companies are mroe and more often setting up near small communities because the cost of living in extremely populated areas is astronomical. If they set up in San Francisco, the workers will demand very high wages because of the cost of living.

If they set up closer to smaller cities, the cost of living and therefore cost of employees is lower as well. In the small-medium town (~100K people) where I live, lots of factories and office-oriented companies are setting up nearby because of the low cost of living, attractive locale for people (i.e. small numbers of murders), lack of inner city gangs, low traffic levels, lower property taxes, friendly neighbourhoods, etc. This is driving the population up rapidly and new housing developments are appearing in areas which only a year ago were remote farm fields.

Re:Escape from Silicon Valley

[Anonymous Coward]

Yep, problem with the south is the education sucks because they just won't tax their citizens enough. They gain a few bucks in the beginning, but lose out in the end. Classic libertarian failure story; low taxes, almost no fair labor practices, anti-union, few environmental regulations, but the economy still sucks.

Re:Escape from Silicon Valley

[EvilBudMan]

>>>Yep, problem with the south is the education sucks because they just won't tax their citizens enough. They gain a few bucks in the beginning, but lose out in the end. Classic libertarian failure story; low taxes, almost no fair labor practices, anti-union, few environmental regulations, but the economy still sucks.>>>

There is plenty of tax where I'm at but too few people to tax. Therein lies the problem where I'm at. BTW I'd MOD you up too if I could because it is a fair argument. You need educated people and not just cheap labor.

Does Distance Matter?

[idfrsr]

Why are they so excited about a location that is over 100 miles from their nearest constituent company (IBM)?

Does it matter how far you are away now things like distributed systems, video conference calls and such are making the distance less and less of a practical issue.

TECH VALLEY YEAH!

[dasmegabyte]

I live in Tech Valley, (Wynantskill, actually) and I can tell you a few of the reasons why it's so popular:

1) Though taxes are high, the cost of living and operating are low -- at least 20-30% lower than in NYC. Which means you can offer an employee less money and it'll be worth more to them. Insurance is also cheaper.

2) Tons of infrastructure. A lot of big fat unfettered pipes and buildings waiting to be filled.

3) Nice setting. Those pictures of your corporate headquarters at the top of a rolling green hill surrounded by trees sure beat the arrow-pointing-to-an-office-floor stuff some people have to deal with. We've got nice sprawl for your employees, too (not a good thing if you, as i do, live on the street leading to the sprawl, but there you are).

4) RPI. RPI graduates tons of brilliant tech youths with experience in wierd technology. RPI honors and grad students create all sorts of brilliant tech advances, and when they get their sheepskins they'll need some place to hole out for 20-30 years. A wise tech company grabs them while they're young and cheap...we have a dozen consulting companies around for this reason; hell, even Microsoft has a recruitment office here.

5) Dude, you're 2 hours from Canada, 2 hours from the City, 2 hours from the shore, Cape Cod in the summer, Vermont in the winter...it's nice in NY man.

The Albany Hub

[Joe U]

100 miles is nothing when you have several large rail corridors sitting next to your plant.

Albany is a rail hub with low cost for building and housing. You can ship products (or people) to NYC in under 2.5 hours. Or Armonk (IBM) in about an hour. It's also very easy and cheap to ship to Chicago, NJ, PA, CT, MA.

Albany is a wonderland for a manufacturer.
The only thing is, I'm not sure how much manufacturing will be going on here.

The answer is in the question

[Rupert]

Why are they so excited about a location that is over 100 miles from their nearest constituent company?

slightly further up:

New York State will supply the remaining $210 million

It always feels good to get money back from the government.

Middle of Nowhere

[Oculus Habent]

Some good points about being away from everything:

• At night, you don't here sirens, and gunfire, and cars, and "city noise". You hear crickets, and wind, and a few cars.
• When you want a breath of fresh air, you can get it.
• If you want to go camping or hiking, swimming or fishing, et cetera, you can. You don't have to spend a few thousand planning a getaway when you're almost there.
• At night, you can drive to where there are no street lights, and see the Milky Way. You can count shooting stars - even without meteor showers.
• You can visit big cities and experience all the good things they have to offer if you choose, without having to life with the bad things.

Of course, much of this depends on how far away from everything you are. And for those who want the best of both worlds - most times a large corporate development goes in, the surrounding areas become more metropolitan.

And:

• I don't ACTUALLY want to go to Miami or San Diego. Some people don't enjoy large cities, while others do.
• If you think Albany, NY is the sticks, you've never travelled the open expanses of the Mid-West or the woods of Maine. Check the National Atlas and look at population density.
• There may not be as many places to go, but there's plenty to do.

Just thoughts.