A research company is moving to the Albany Nanotech Complex to be closer to collaborators. Meanwhile, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is set to lease 10 times more square footage at the complex come next year.
Ithaca company moves HQ to Albany
Ithaca-based nanotechnology research company Xallent has moved its headquarters to the Albany Nanotech Complex.
Xallent was founded in 2013 by Dr. Kwame Amponsah with Dr. Amit Lal and Dr. Ashish Kumar at Cornell University. The company develops nanoscale measurement hardware and software tools for imaging, testing and analyzing semiconductors and thin film materials.
Over the last decade, Xallent has contracted with the Department of Defense and its research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. But now, the company is ready to move beyond testing other company's silicon wafers to sell or license its machinery.
"Most of our initial products were focused on the R&D side of the market. But now because of our relationship with these clients, we are now scaling into full production, and now require some form of partnerships with, let's say, the semiconductor instruments manufacturers," Amponsah said.
Amponsah said the company moved to Albany Nanotech in January to be closer to clients and potential collaborators. Xallent currently rents an office and a lab. Amponsah is also an adjunct professor at the University at Albany.
The advantage of being at the complex is having access to more advanced technology and being able to bring potential clients/collaborators into the lab for a demonstration.
"We found [demos] to be so powerful, you have no idea. It's so powerful for them. Seeing what what we can do minimizes any barrier ... that is one of the true powers in being on site with clients as well as potential partners," he said. "We are a small company. We don't have the muscle, we don't have the experience to be building complex systems that will go into a cleanroom for Intel or Samsung. But what we have is technology."
RPI leases more space
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is increasing the amount of space it leases at Albany Nanotech.
In addition to the 660 square feet RPI currently leases at the NanoFab East Building, the university will lease an additional 6,600 square feet of office space in the ZEN Building, according to NY CREATES meeting documents.
RPI will fit up the space with an anticipated completion date of March 1, 2025. The lease runs until December 31, 2033.
Rent for the new square footage for one year will be over $229,000. The Fuller Road Management Corporation — a real estate arm of NY CREATES — will provide $978,000 toward fit-up.
More change on the way at Albany Nanotech
The final steps for the complex's new $495 million building, NanoFab Reflection, were approved by the NY CREATES Board Thursday. Even without shovels in the ground yet, requests for space already exceed what will be available at the new space, an official said.
NanoFab Reflection will include 50,000 square feet of clean room space. New York state will be funding the purchase of an advanced lithography machine used in semiconductor manufacturing, part of a $10 billion public/private partnership announced in December.
The partnership if part of the push for the Albany region to land the National Semiconductor Research Center, a new federal initiative expected to spur the creation of more than 1,000 jobs.
